The U.S.-led onslaught against Afghanistan ( news - web sites )'s ruling Taliban and the al Qaeda network of fugitive Osama bin Laden ( news - web sites ) moved into a new phase Saturday, with elite troops launching ground operations in the country's south as Washington said it would help Taliban foes.
Two weeks into devastating attacks that have seen waves of U.S. warplanes raining bombs across the country, heavy raids on the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar sparked panic and a "sudden rush" of dazed refugees to Pakistan, the United Nations ( news - web sites ) said.
Days after the United States unleashed fearsome AC-130 gunships, a U.S official in Washington told Reuters a new phase had been launched with combat troops.
"A group of special forces, including Army Rangers, went into Afghanistan today -- overnight Afghanistan time -- to conduct operations" in a mission lasting a few hours, the official said on condition of anonymity. "As of right now, they are clear of Afghan air space."
The official refused to define the nature of the mission or to say if there were any casualties, but he said the number of U.S. troops involved was "over 100."
The Pentagon ( news - web sites ) was expected to hold a briefing on the operation Saturday.
With pressure on the Taliban mounting, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, told reporters while on the way to Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, that Washington had "from time to time" provided anti-Taliban groups in Afghanistan with assistance, including ammunition.
As Taliban officials put the toll of dead and missing at up to 900, their ambassador to Pakistan said Friday the hardline movement stood firm and would not hand over bin Laden, blamed for the September 11 suicide attacks on the United States.
But the envoy, Abdul Salam Zaeef, warned that while U.S. planes may control the skies, their special forces on Afghan soil would meet their match, as would opposition Northern Alliance troops preparing to advance on the strategic Taliban-held city of Mazar-i-Sharif.
"The issue of Osama has not changed," he said. "It is a matter of our faith -- we might as well change our faith.
"We have had some casualties, but remain strong. If fighting starts on the ground, then let us see what will happen," Zaeef added.
Ignoring Friday's Muslim holy day, U.S. warplanes struck the Afghan capital Kabul and Kandahar, screaming over the cities at will and met by only scant anti-aircraft fire.
Fatoumata Kaba, a spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said a "sudden rush" of around 3,500 Afghan refugees, mostly women and children, entered Pakistan Friday at the Chaman border point, the closest crossing from Kandahar.
After pounding Afghan cities with the biggest bombs residents of this war-ravaged country have known, the United States began radio broadcasts from EC-130E "Commando Solo" psychological operations aircraft, urging Afghans to keep away from Taliban military installations.
"We do not wish to harm you," one of the broadcasts said. "Try to find ways to ignore the Taliban and Osama bin Laden's requests for help and do not give them food or shelter."
Eight U.S. personnel in north Afghanistan had been moving with opposition warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum, a top Northern Alliance commander said.
"They are with General Dostum in Dara-i-Suf," Ustad Attah, a top opposition commander, told Reuters by satellite phone. The town is some 90 km (55 miles) southeast of Mazar-i-Sharif.
With the vice tightening from the bombing, the Taliban faced an intensifying threat on the ground where the Northern Alliance said it was planning to encircle Mazar-i-Sharif and force the Taliban to surrender.
Northern Alliance officials also said a Taliban attempt to forge a truce across the country had been firmly rebuffed.
Mystery surrounded the Friday visit to Pakistan of Taliban tribal affairs minister Jalaluddin Haqqani, who controls a key portfolio in a country divided along ethnic lines.
It was not known who he met but a source who met him said he had not defected.
Haqqani, a powerful tribal leader from Afghanistan's dominant ethnic Pashtun majority and commander of five southeastern provinces, hails from the Paktia province bordering Pakistan. Analysts say it is significant that in 13 days of U.S. bombing, the raids had not targeted some of the main provinces within Haqqani's power base. 
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