WASHINGTON, Oct 31: Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is expected to visit Pakistan, India, Russia and some Central Asian states next week.

On Tuesday, Mr Rumsfeld for the first time publicly acknowledged the presence of American ground troops in Afghanistan amidst reports from Pakistani sources of defections in the Taliban ranks.

He said a “modest number” of the US ground troops were in Afghanistan to provide logistics and liaison support.

The troops, Mr Rumsfeld said, were in the north helping the anti-Taliban forces, and other ground troops had gone in and come out of southern Afghanistan.

Most of the US troops appear to be with the Northern Alliance forces, preparing them to launch an offensive for the capture of Mazar-i-Sharif and then move towards Kabul. The heavy US bombing of Taliban front lines in the north and around Kandahar on Tuesday and Wednesday would seem to be in support of this strategy.

The dates for the defence secretary’s visit to Pakistan are being worked out, but it is certain that he will be in Islamabad when Gen Pervez Musharraf is also in the capital. The General is due in New York on Nov 9 for a two-day visit.

Mr Rumsfeld is likely to take up with key Pakistan officials the question whether a Ramazan bombing pause will be strategically feasible. Gen Franks was reported to have said in Uzbekistan on Tuesday: “We want to conduct this operation on our timeline. I think we are on that timeline.”

SPLIT: Gen Pervez Musharraf’s statement to BBC television that he sensed a split in the Taliban ranks had also evoked interest in Washington with Mr Rumsfeld indicating that he was inclined to accept this assessment.

Gen Musharraf was said to have talked of a growing possibility of a revolt against the Taliban, paving the way for a political solution. He said he had detected signs of splits among the Taliban and added: “Who’s head of the Pashtun? Not the Taliban.” He followed this by saying that this should be seen as a “calculated remark” on his part.

Mr Rumsfeld was questioned by reporters about this and asked why he was himself shying away from saying the same thing if it was true. He replied: “Well, he (Musharraf) lives in the neighbourhood. And they know an awful lot of those folks. And they’ve known them over a period of time. And they’ve had diplomatic relations with them. And if I were to go with someone’s view, I’d probably be inclined to go with his.”

On ground troops, Mr Rumsfeld said: “We do have some military people on the ground. They are in the north, and we’ve had others on the ground who have come in and out on the south... they are uniformed military personnel who are assisting with re-supply, assisting with communications liaison, assisting with targeting and providing the kind of very specific information which is helpful to the air effort. And because they are there now, the effort has improved in its effectiveness over what had been the case previously.”