NEW YORK, Nov 3: The American people do not want the US war in Afghanistan to last for years, “they want action fast and that means killing or capturing Osama bin Laden first, then dismantling the Taliban soon, not at some distant point when the Twin Towers have been rebuilt.”

In a cover story in latest issue of Newsweek special writer Tony Clifton says the Americans’ main problem is that, despite their denials, they are bound to a timetable. Whatever the administration may say, this campaign cannot drag on for years,”

“At the same time, the United States must move fast in order to hold together its fragile Islamic coalition, already disturbed by Afghan civilian casualties. Washington needs to show some success before Ramazan — the Muslim holy month that this year begins on Nov 17. The onset of winter, also next month, closes up high passes and many of the country’s rudimentary roads, and traditionally brings fighting to a virtual standstill,” Newsweek says.

Clifton says “We drop a bomb here and a bomb there, and the enemy replies by singing songs?”

Saying that he has been to a number of fronts as a Newsweek correspondent, including with the American military in Vietnam and Iraq, Clifton asserts “if this tempo continues, Osama bin Laden will be in Afghanistan — and the Americans will be, too — this time next year.

“In Vietnam the sky would have been painted with the red flames and black smoke of napalm, the horizon would have been jiggling under “arc lights” — the force of three B-52s dropping 90 tons of bombs in unison. In the gulf war, the tank unit I accompanied, the Tiger Brigade, rolled into Kuwait only after three months of ferocious bombing. As we approached, terrified Iraqis tripped over each other to surrender,”

“I don’t see that happening with the Taliban. They’re not under great pressure, and all they have to do is just sit there and stay alive,” he adds.

Clifton observes “If you are Osama bin Laden or Mulla Omar, you also wait for outside help. This aid will come from Osama’s well-organized agents and allies across the world, and from the huge armed militias in Pakistan, already seething on the verge of revolt. If the conflict drags on, these wannabe jihadis will be targeting US soldiers at bases in Pakistan, planning bombings and hijackings. They may also take the fight to Kashmir, where guerillas staged a bloody suicide attack on the parliament building in Srinagar on Oct 1, killing nearly 40 people. That incident has New Delhi muttering about pursuing militants into Pakistan-controlled Kashmir or bombing training camps across the border. Either action could provoke a full-fledged war between the two nuclear powers, while American troops continue operations nearby.”