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Strikes intensify; more US special forces on ground: Rumsfeld

Even as the number of United States special forces on ground more than doubled, air strikes on Afghanistan were intensified on Wednesday, amidst reports that the US was mulling the establishment of forward air bases in Tajikistan.

"With respect to the air campaign, there is no question but that the better targeting information we have, the better the effect is on the ground, and the air campaign has been going along quite well," US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said.

At the same time Rumsfeld said he felt the United States would take 'months, not years' to defeat the Taleban and Al Qaeda.

Rumsfeld said the number of US attack sorties have climbed to 120 per day in recent days, a reflection of the improved targeting that has come with the arrival in Afghanistan of US special forces troops.

"And there are others prepared to go in as soon as weather and circumstances on the ground permit," he said.

At a press briefing in Pentagon on Tuesday night Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Peter Pace said two 15,000-pound 'daisy cutter' bombs were dropped on the Taleban positions last week.

Pace said US forces flew more than 100 strike sorties on Monday, mainly in support of opposition forces fighting for the strategic northern town of Mazar-i-Sharif and on the Taleban front lines north of the capital Kabul.

Northern Alliance, meanwhile, claimed to have captured several key town in and around Mazar-i-Sharif.

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