Seven US Marines were killed when a refuelling plane crashed in flames in a remote corner of Pakistan. In neighboring Afghanistan, American jets repeatedly pounded an al-Qaeda guerrilla complex.
US officials described Wednesday's crash as an accident and said it was under investigation.
Promising freedom
As Washington pressed on with its campaign to crush Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, Afghanistan's interim leader, Hamid Karzai, urged Afghan factions to work together to restore security to a nation riven by two decades of conflict.
"Let us join together and make a national army," he said on Wednesday, speaking in Dari, the Afghan Persian used in the north.
Karzai committed his interim administration to respecting a free market economy and freedom of speech and the press.
In his first televised address to the nation since being sworn in to office on Dec. 22, Karzai said his administration "supports a free market."
"Social and economic progress in our country is dependent on a free market economy and private sector development," he told Afghan Television.
"The government will lessen its interference in economic affairs. This will pave the way for freedom and private sector initiative."
Karzai said the Afghan constitution "guarantees freedom of speech and of the press, and also political and social freedom."
"The people will be allowed to take part in a free press. I agree with the Constitution and I respect it."
Freedom of economy and speech, he cautioned however, was limited by "national interest." He did not elaborate.
The arrival of a British-led international force, mandated by the UN, will boost security in Kabul. These troops are now moving into the city and will total up to 5,000.
Washington launched its war in Afghanistan on Oct. 7 to hunt down bin Laden, whom it accuses of masterminding Sept. 11 attacks that killed around 3,000 people in New York and Washington, and punish his Taliban protectors.
US bombing and local Afghan forces toppled the hardline militia in weeks, but Washington's main targets, bin Laden and Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, remain elusive.
In a chilling reminder to Americans of the risks of a military campaign that has so far seen few US casualties, a refuelling plane with seven Marines on board hit a mountain near a remote airport in southwestern Pakistan on Wednesday.
The aircraft crashed as it was coming into land at a base used by American forces near Shamsi, about 32km to 48km northeast of Panjur, Pakistan, closer to the frontier with Iran than the border with Afghanistan.
Flames raged at the scene of the crash for several hours.
"Rescue crews are working their way to the aircraft at this time," Marine Corps spokesman Major Chris Hughes told a news conference in Kandahar. "The incident is under investigation."
In eastern Afghanistan, Washington kept up its relentless bombing of the Zhawar Kili caves, a vast underground complex where fighters from the Taliban and al-Qaeda network had tried to regroup, 30km southwest of Khost.
"American jets began bombing the area overnight and continued into yesterday morning. There was no information about casualties," said news agencies said.
Several helicopters ferried in about 50 US ground troops to eastern Khost, taking the total number of US personnel in the area to about 150, it added.
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