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Pentagon: U.S. will 'bring the Taliban down'

A warplane takes off from the deck of the USS Theodore Roosevelt on Wednesday.

(CNN) -- A top Pentagon official said Wednesday he was surprised by the determination of Taliban forces but stressed that the U.S.-led assaults would continue until the Taliban government is toppled.

U.S. Navy Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem said the Taliban are "tough warriors" who are operating in an environment with which they are very familiar.

"I am a bit surprised at how doggedly they're hanging on to power. For [Taliban leader] Mullah Omar to not see the inevitability of what will happen surprises me. We are prepared to take however long is required to bring the Taliban down," he said.

U.S. warplanes struck targets near the Afghan capital, Kabul, and the front lines north of the city. Heavy bombing also resumed Wednesday in the southern Taliban stronghold of Kandahar, according to reports from the Arabic-language TV satellite network Al Jazeera.

From a village north of the front lines, fighter jets were seen above the mountains where Taliban fighters are entrenched, and bombs were heard exploding. The jets were met with anti-aircraft fire. Plumes of black smoke were seen in the area.

The front-line attacks could soften the Taliban defenses, allowing the opposition Northern Alliance to advance toward Kabul, but a Northern Alliance spokesman said he did not believe the time for that had come.

"It has not reached the level that we will expect a major change in the military situation as far as the front lines are concerned," Northern Alliance Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah told CNN. "But we are in contact with American authorities, and we are working to coordinate our efforts in that regard."

The United Nations, meanwhile, painted a graphic picture of how U.S. strikes are affecting Afghan civilians, saying about 70 percent of the western city of Herat's 1 million residents have fled in fear.

U.N. spokeswoman Stephanie Bunker said the village of Shakar Qala, about two miles northeast of Herat, was hit in the U.S.-led attack on the city Monday night. She said the village is near a military camp, which U.S. officials have said was a target.

VIDEO General Tommy Franks, commander-in-chief of U.S. Central Command, talks to the press in Bahrain regarding the campaign against Afghanistan (October 24) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) U.S.-led airstrikes are targeting Taliban frontline positions. CNN's Jamie McIntyre reports (October 23) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   QUICKVOTE Will you still support the U.S. bombing campaign in Afghanistan if it extends through the winter? Yes No View Results

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Latest developments

• U.N. officials asked the United States to teach aid workers how to disarm unexploded munitions that pose a deadly threat to Afghan civilians. Of particular concern are "bomblets" from U.S. cluster bombs. Up to 200 of the small, powerful explosives can be carried in a cluster bomb, and U.N. officials said about 10 percent fail to explode when they hit the ground. U.N. workers placed sandbags over the unexploded bomblets in the village of Shakar Qala because they cannot disarm them.

• U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Wednesday that although he hopes the U.S. military campaign against Osama bin Laden and the Taliban will be accomplished in the next few days, he could not rule out an engagement into the Islamic holy month of Ramadan and winter. (Full story)

• U.S. Army Gen. Tommy R. Franks, commander in chief of the U.S. Central Command, told reporters in Bahrain on Wednesday that the United States is being "absolutely open and honest" about casualties caused by American forces. Asked how long the military operation would last, he deferred to President Bush's remarks about solving the global terrorism problem. "He said, 'We'll be at it for as long as it takes,' and I think I'd leave the answer that way." (See video)

• FBI director Robert Mueller told U.S. mayors Wednesday that more than 7,000 FBI personnel are working in what he called the largest and most comprehensive investigation in the agency's history. But he said prevention of more terror attacks is the FBI's overriding priority.

• The U.S. State Department has updated its worldwide caution, issued after the military campaign against Afghanistan began, to reflect the risk of an anthrax attack. "Reports of and confirmed cases of exposure to anthrax have caused an increase in anxiety over possible attacks using chemical and biological agents," the warning said.

• Residents of the village of Chowker Korez told CNN Wednesday that dozens of people were killed Monday night and more than 20 wounded in a U.S.-led attack on the village, 62 miles northwest of Kandahar. The claims could not be independently confirmed. A CNN Afghan crew went to the village and said it was heavily damaged. A Pentagon spokeswoman said she had no information concerning such an incident. (Full story)

• A conference of anti-Taliban Afghan leaders from both inside and outside of Afghanistan has endorsed a plan for the future of the nation, including a "leadership council," essentially establishing a framework for a transition government if the Taliban should fall in the midst of U.S.-led airstrikes. (Full story)

• Navy Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem said Wednesday any Taliban claims that the United States would poison food intended for Afghan civilians are "categorically false." He said the United States had information the Taliban "may intend" to poison food and blame it on Americans.

• A 55-year-old Pakistani man initially detained by the Immigration and Naturalization Service for questioning in the investigation into terrorist attacks died Tuesday in jail. A federal official said he was found to have no connection to the September 11 attacks and was being held because his visa had expired. (Full story)

• U.S. military bombing in Afghanistan has "bogged down" the trial of eight Western aid workers accused of trying to convert Muslims to Christianity, the father of one prisoner said Tuesday. John Mercer, who is in Islamabad, Pakistan, working for the release of his daughter, Heather Mercer, said: "Unfortunately it doesn't appear that the court has that on the front burner at this time."