WASHINGTON, Oct 20: Confirming the crash of a US Black Hawk helicopter in Balochistan, in which two American servicemen were killed and two injured, the Pentagon on Saturday said its special forces’ incursion into southern Afghanistan on Friday had met resistance at both its target areas, an airfield and a Taliban command and control centre near Kandahar, and disclosed that two personnel were injured in one of the airdrops.

But it characterized the resistance encountered as light, and not significant, and denied Taliban claims that they had shot down the helicopter. The Pentagon described the helicopter’s loss as due to a mishap.

The two targets of the first US land-based attack on Afghanistan since the military campaign began a fortnight ago were fairly far apart, according to Gen Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who gave a briefing at the Pentagon.

Video clips showing US special forces and Rangers preparing for their attack, getting into aircraft, and parachuting into southern Afghanistan were also screened.

Both targets were in the vicinity of Kandahar, and the control and command centre targeted was said to have been used by Mullah Mohammad Omar, the Taliban supreme leader. But Gen Myers said the US was not expecting any senior Taliban or Al Qaeda leadership to be present at either of the targets, and none was found.

The general said he would call the mission as overall a success, with both targets captured or destroyed. The objective was to gather intelligence, and this was now being evaluated. He refused to say how many troops were involved and whether they had been brought out of Afghanistan — or extricated, to use the technical term employed — or were still in their area of operation.

The CNN reported that the troops had been recalled.

Gen Myers said the assault showed “we can do what we want to”, but his admission that resistance was encountered in both the target areas shows that the ground fight is not going to be as easy as might have been anticipated after the intense pummelling from the air of the last few days. Asked whether any of the aircraft used in dropping special forces into southern Afghanistan flew from Pakistan, Gen Myers said he was not going to discuss details of the operations and from where they were being staged, but added that the US had good support in the region.

He also declined to say whether Friday’s mission marked the beginning of a ground war in Afghanistan. He said there would be some operations that would be visible and others that would not be made public.

Media commentaries here on Saturday suggested that the airborne operation was intended as much as to capture or liquidate specific objectives as to make a political and psychological point. It was meant to increase pressure on the Taliban by underlining the capability of US forces to move at will inside Afghanistan and also persuade tribal leaders in the Pashtun belt to defect and join the allied forces.

Administration officials have been emphasizing in recent days that air strikes alone would be able to liquidate the Taliban and Al Qaeda leadership, but the new phase of ground intervention clearly take the campaign into somewhat uncharted waters.