Thirty captured Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters were on their way to Cuba yesterday as US bombers continued pounding a former militant base ahead of a visit by US Secretary of State Colin Powell to Afghanistan.
Powell's visit is intended to support reconstruction of the nation shattered by two decades of war, but the interim government and aid organizations say their work is being frustrated by a lack of funds.
The second batch of detainees from the Afghan campaign to be flown to the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, left in a C-17 US military cargo plane late Sunday, a spokesman for the US Central Command said.
The US has so far failed in the key objective of capturing Sept. 11 terror suspect Osama bin Laden and his protectors from the ousted Taliban regime, but US planes continued bombing former bases of bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization yesterday.
US warplanes attacked caves around the eastern Afghan town of Zhawar overnight and early yesterday, according to the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP), quoting residents in the neighboring Pakistani town of Miran Shah.
US ground troops scouring the area have found heavy weapons and ammunition in a network of bunkers, caves and buildings much larger than had been apparent from earlier aerial reconnaissance.
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has acknowledged some of the recent strikes against the area were solely for the purpose of destroying weaponry.
Powell said he would meet Afghanistan's new interim leadership before going on to a Jan. 21-22 conference of Afghan donor countries in Japan.
An acute lack of funds is hampering the ability of the interim government and non-governmental organizations working in the war-shattered country to provide basic needs.
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