Rumsfeld said the U.S. troops in Afghanistan have requested that saddles, bridles and horsefeed be included in supply drops into the area.
Asked what the U.S. special forces are doing in the south, he said, "They are looking for information. They're interdicting roads. They're killing Taliban that won't surrender and Al Qaeda that are trying to move from one place to another."
He would not say specifically how many forces are fighting on the ground, saying only that "we have hundreds."
Rumsfeld didn't specify how many combat incidents U.S. ground forces had been involved in. He said U.S. forces had been overrun at times, but they were able to call in airstrikes to fend off their attackers.
He confirmed reports that high-level Taliban leaders have been captured by opposition Afghan forces and American officials are planning to interrogate them. "We do have some names, and they were not privates," he said.
