US public waits to view hits and misses

America was today waiting to see the first images of the effect of two nights of military strikes on Afghanistan.

Unlike the Gulf War and Kosovo conflicts, no pictures taken from bombers and spy planes have so far been made available to the public.

But Pentagon officials were last night said to be working on releasing some images of the effect of the strikes by Cruise missiles and bombs on the ground in Afghanistan.

They are likely to publish pictures of misses as well as hits, because of the criticism they faced during the Kosovo air strikes, when they released only images of successes, said reports.

And in Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, the B2 stealth bombers used in last night’s strikes were due back home after their 22-hour round trip to drop computer-guided bombs on targets in Afghanistan.

The £1.4bn bombers are the only part of the strike force being used in Operation 'Enduring Freedom' flying out of America, with other B1 and B52 bombers being based on Diego Garcia, a tiny British possession in the Indian Ocean.

Defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and US Air Force General Richard Meyers, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, are likely to discuss the results of the second night of attacks at the Pentagon later today.

No British bombers or Cruise missiles were believed to be involved in the strikes, and fewer than 20 bombers and fighter-bombers were being used in the effort.

At the Pentagon, planners and analysts were assessing the effectiveness of the strikes.

Mr Rumsfeld said: ‘‘We have made progress towards eliminating air defences sites around the country. We cannot yet state with certainty that we destroyed the dozens of military command and control and leadership targets that we selected.

‘‘We have not got enough battle damage assessments to answer the question but when we do, we will probably find there is more work to be done.’’

The humanitarian effort was also preparing to enter a third day. Giant C7 transport planes have dropped emergency food rations and medicines over Afghanistan, in an effort to win hearts and minds and provide food to the millions of people starving as a four-year-long drought goes on.

The packages, vegetarian to ensure Muslim halal food laws are not breached, include rice, peanut butter and a fruit bar and are branded ‘‘from the people of the United States of America’’.

Mr Rumsfeld said: ‘‘We will continue our humanitarian air drops today, providing much-needed relief to the Afghan people.’’