Since the September 11 attacks, many American citizens have demanded that action be taken against those responsible for the atrocities. This request was finally granted on October 7, as both the U.S. and Britain sent stealth bombers and jets to assault the training headquarters of the Taliban.

After failing to comply with numerous requests by the U.S. government to turn Osama Bin Laden over to them, President Bush and Congress made the decision to commence with assaults on terrorist military bases. The attacks began early on the morning of October 7, and continued relentlessly for days.

Attacks focused on the capital city of Kabul and the southern city of Kandahar. Death tolls have come in, but are substantially lower than those of the Trade Center bombings. The attacks have primarily targeted military and defense bases, in an attempt to avoid injuring civilians. Nevertheless, some civilian deaths have been reported.

Taliban and al Qaeda officials have promised to continue retaliating if the assaults do not come to an end. Restrictions on Osama bin Laden have been lifted, and he has been given permission by some Muslim clerics to engage in a holy war. Leaders of terrorist groups have attempted to call Muslims worldwide to duty in attacking the U.S.

Aside from the attacks over Afghanistan, food rations have been delivered by U.S. cargo planes to the citizens of Afghanistan, carrying items such as pasta and peanut butter. The goal is to aid the starving citizens while at the same time bringing down the terrorists. However, some rations have ended up in the hands of entrepreneurs, who sell the humanitarian rations to Afghan citizens. Other rations were seized by Taliban forces. Leaflets written in Arabic and other local languages advocating American support have also been dropped over Afghanistan.

Problems have risen due to leaks of strategic information by certain members of Congress. Outraged by this turn of events, President Bush plans to increase security regarding the distribution of vital information.

A list of the 22 “most wanted terrorists” was recently published by the White House, containing the names of Bin Laden and a number of his followers who are suspected of involvement with the attacks on September 11. A $5 million reward is being offered for any information that leads to the capture of any of these men.

Employees of the United Nations in Afghanistan have been targeted for assaults in numerous Afghan cities. Many

UN vehicles, such as trucks and ambulances, have been confiscated. A French reporter and his two guides are being held under charges of espionage for disguising themselves as Afghan women.

The deployment of ground troops has not yet occurred, but remains an option. The destruction of Taliban anti-aircraft weapons may open up the possibility of flight during the day, but the risk of attacks on low flying vehicles remains until assurance of total neutralization is established.

Some of the pilots for the U.S. jets have admitted painting slogans such as “I love N.Y.” on the missiles. So far, the end of this war is not in sight.