AFGHANISTAN - Oct. 20 - US Elite Forces Start Ground War.

News agencies report that 200 US Army Rangers launch ground raids in the south of the country early in the morning. (This marks a new phase in the two-week-old conflict, which has been dominated by air strikes that have intensified sharply this week. Pentagon officials previously indicated that special operations forces were engaged in intelligence-gathering and reconnaissance). But Associated Press, citing an unnamed Pakistani military official, says US special forces have been dropped into the south on Oct. 18 to carry out "hit-and-run" operations. A US official in Washington says ground forces have completed their initial operation. While it remains unclear where the special forces are active, expectations are growing that the US military could secure operating bases in the north as a platform for raids on Taliban troops and terrorist camps. US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld acknowledged on Oct. 19 that US forces were co-ordinating air strikes with Northern Alliance rebels on the ground. He also said the US was supplying food, ammunition and money to the rebel forces, adding: "There is good co-ordination from the air with the ground, particularly in the north" of Afghanistan. "There is not that kind of co-ordination as yet in the south". Special forces are reportedly engaged among southern Pashtun commanders, attempting to persuade them to turn against the Taliban forces. On Oct. 18, more than 90 aircraft attacked about 18 Taliban targets, and bombing continued on Oct. 19 despite the previous Friday's pause for the Muslim Sabbath. Experts believe US elite troops based on the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk in the Arabian Sea could make temporary incursions that would pave the way for a bigger presence. Rear Admiral John Stufflebeem, deputy director of operations of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said: "There are parts of this campaign that will be visible and there will be parts that are invisible". Experts said "psychological operations" would be one role of special forces in Taliban-controlled areas. A former US army officer said: "One of their messages would be to provide the Taliban fighters with alternatives to being killed".