Taliban troops suffer ‘next stage’ of US anti-terror war

US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld has described the targeting of Taliban frontline troops in Afghanistan as a logical step towards the goal of destroying the Taliban and the al Qaida terrorist network it harbours.

Speaking at a Pentagon news conference last night as US warplanes struck for the 16th day, Rumsfeld said that on Sunday US jets began bombing Taliban troops arrayed against opposition forces north of the capital, Kabul, and near the northern crossroads city of Mazar-e-Sharif, a Taliban stronghold.