US special forces were operating in Afghanistan today as US President Mr George W Bush rebuffed calls from aid agencies for a halt to US airstrikes.
Defence officials told reporters that small units of elite commandos were on the ground, while an anti-Taliban rebel commander said an eight-man US team had joined opposition forces fighting in the north of the country.
President Bush ruled out halting the US-led bombardment to allow aid agencies to distribute food supplies in Afghanistan before winter snows set in. He accused the Taliban of stealing the food drops.
"We will continue our military operations in such a way that it will not disrupt the delivery of food," Mr Bush said.
"The world must understand that the primary reason why food is not making it to starving people is the Taliban... The Taliban government is seizing food," he told a news conference in Shanghai.
Meanwhile, 10,000 anti-US demonstrators marched through the Indonesian capital Jakarta and security was tight in Pakistan ahead of Friday prayers.
At least two bombs fell on Kabul early today, despite hopes the US-led forces would call a pause in their bombardment to mark Friday, the Muslim holy day, as they had one week earlier.
The Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Mr Abdul Salam Zaeef, meanwhile indicated a ceasefire plan was being discussed.
"I went to Kandahar to discuss with my leader about a ceasefire plan," he told reporters in Quetta, "I will go to Islamabad to meet the Pakistanis and after that I will declare in a press conference the purpose of my visit to Kandahar."
Washington has in the past rejected all Taliban offers of negotiations.
US defence officials told the Washington Post and CNN special forces had arrived in southern Afghanistan near Kandahar to support a campaign by US agents to persuade local leaders to break away from the Taliban.
Earlier the Pentagon announced it would provide air support and ammunition to help anti-Taliban opposition forces in Afghanistan and indicated ground troops would join the 13-day-old campaign.
British, French, Canada and Australian leaders have said their special forces could also stake part in a US-led ground campaign.
One opposition commander, Mr Mohammed Atta, said a US military team was in the north of the country with forces under anti-Taliban warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostam.
"The eight-member American team has landed in Dara-e-Souf area of Samangan and has been with General Dostam for the past four nights," Atta said, "It could be an exploratory team but I'm not sure what they're doing."
It was the first time any side in the war in Afghanistan had confirmed the widely reported presence of US ground forces there.
The Taliban said they welcomed news of the US deployment and were looking forward to a chance to pitch their battle-hardened fighters against ground troops after failing to score any victories over the air armada.
"We don't want this fight but if there is a ground battle we would prefer that to aerial bombing," said Mr Abdul Hanan Hemat, head of the militia's Bakhter information agency.
"Over history the Afghans have proved themselves on the battlefield, especially over the past 25 years. Anyone born over the past 25 years knows how to fight. Afghans are ready for jihad (holy war) and we will fight."
Meanwhile the supreme leader of the Taliban, Mullah Mohammad Omar, has sent envoys to the opposition Northern Alliance to urge them to unite with his forces and fight "the American invasion".
Commander Daud, the leader of the opposition troops at Farkhar, east of the Taliban-held northern town of Taloqan, said telephone he had recently met envoys from Mullah Omar with a verbal request for an anti-US front.
Mr Daud said he had told the delegation the Taliban, a regime "put into power by Pakistan", was not in a position to defend Afghan independence.
Opposition military sources confirmed that other Northern Alliance commanders had also been contacted either directly, or by radio, with Mr Omar's message.
Meanwhile fighting continued around the strategically important northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif. The Taliban claimed to have retaken ground southeast of the city, overturning an opposition advance, but Mr Atta said fighting was ongoing.
After meeting Chinese President Mr Jiang Zemin in Shanghai, President Bush said: "There's a firm commitment by this [Chinese] government to co-operate in intelligence matters and to help interdict financing of terrorist organisations."
Mr Jiang, the host of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shanghai, said he and Bush had had "an in-depth exchange of views and reached a consensus on a number of important issues such as Sino-US relations, the fight against terrorism and safeguarding world peace and stability".
AFP