Defence officials on latest developments

(8 Nov 2001) 1. Wide shot of news briefing 2. SOUNDBITE: (English) General Tommy Franks, Commander, US Forces In Afghanistan "The capacity that the leadership of both the Taliban and Al-Qaida, the capacity they had to be able to communicate, to be able to plan for operations has been degraded by this effort. Now having said that let me be quick to point out, that should not imply that a great deal of planning may not have already been done. But the direct answer to your question is I believe that these elements will find it much more difficult, to co-ordinate, communicate to plan, than they did 30 days ago." 3. Cutaway press 4. SOUNDBITE: (English) General Tommy Franks, Commander, US Forces In Afghanistan "I have seen many reports in the media that this is a great gunfight going on, in the vicinity of Mazar-E-Sharif and in fact there is a gunfight that's going on in the vicinity of Mazar-E-Sharif. I believe as the secretary said I think yesterday, perhaps the day before, it's a bit early for us to characterise this as the success that will enable our establishment of the land bridge. So I'm not prepared to do that right now. But yes there's a big fight that's going on at the Mazar-E-Sharif." 5. Cutaway press 6. SOUNDBITE: (English) General Tommy Franks, Commander, US Forces In Afghanistan "This will not day by day be all about the establishment or the movement of troops along a line of contact. This effort is 24 hours a day, it has been and it will continue to be 24 hours a day. And the license which I believe we have to conduct this effort in this way is a license that says we'll be at this for as long as takes." 7. Cutaway of news briefing STORYLINE: The U-S commander of forces in Afghanistan says the American military will strike Taliban forces "for as long as it takes." During a Pentagon briefing on Thursday, General Franks and U-S Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the effort to topple the al-Qaida terrorist network and its Taliban protectors would continue unabated. General Franks said the U-S and coalition action in Afghanistan was a 24-hour-a-day effort. He said he was satisfied with the campaign's progress so far. General Franks added that he believed the Taliban and al-Qaida's ability to plan and communicate has been "degraded." As to the use of more ground troops in Afghanistan, he said he wanted to keep all options open, but refused to rule out the possibility. Franks spoke at his first news conference in the Pentagon since U-S forces began operations in Afghanistan a month ago. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...