WASHINGTON/RABAT, Afghanistan (REUTERS) — President Bush said Wednesday that the Taliban was crumbling and fugitive militant Osama bin Laden was “on the run,” as bombers pounded Taliban front lines and federal agents swooped on suspected terrorist financial networks across the United States.

“We know that slowly but surely the Taliban is crumbling. Its defenses are crumbling. Its folks are defecting,” Bush told reporters during an appearance with visiting British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

“We’ve got a sound strategy in place that has got Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda thugs on the run,” he added.

Blair, a key U.S. ally, echoed Bush’s vow to bring the war to victory but also underscored the growing view of military analysts that a ground offensive involving Western troops could be needed to topple the Taliban and destroy bin Laden’s al Qaeda network of Islamic militants.

“I think people know that the strategy has to encompass more than airstrikes alone ? There are other operations that we will mount as well,” Blair said.

In Afghanistan, the ruling Taliban militia said the U.S. campaign had failed to dent their strength even as bombing runs sent huge columns of smoke into the sky and opposition Northern Alliance forces said they had gained ground in their push to take the strategic provincial capital of Mazar-i-Sharif.

Afghan opposition fighters mounted on horseback reportedly threw themselves into battle against Taliban tanks in scenes one U.S. military official compared
to sweeping cavalry charges seen in the first world war.

Tajikistan, Afghanistan’s northern neighbor, said U.S. forces were welcome to use three air bases there in the campaign against the Taliban and bin Laden, prime suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks with hijacked airliners that killed some 4,800 people in the United States.

With the United States on guard for biological or chemical attacks in the wake of a series of anthrax outbreaks, Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said the country would remain at top alert — although he added that officials had no specific information on future threats.

U.S. officials launched a fresh assault against al Qaeda Wednesday, sending agents swooping in to close the offices of two financial networks with links to bin Laden in four U.S. states.

“By shutting these networks down, we disrupt the murderer’s work,” Bush said, referring to the Saudi-born militant.

He named the networks as Al Taqwa and Al Barakaat, saying that the former, an association of offshore banks and financial management firms, had helped bin Laden’s al Qaeda group and the latter was a group of money-wiring and communication companies owned by a bin Laden friend and supporter.

He said allies including the Group of Seven industrial nations, Russia and the United Emirates had joined in the action, which covered 62 groups and individuals whose assets will be frozen.
The list had addresses ranging from Columbus, Ohio, to Dorchester, Massachusetts, in the United States and beyond U.S. borders to the Bahamas, Dubai,
Liechtenstein, Somalia and Switzerland. They brought the total to 150.
Bush met with Blair amid a U.S. diplomatic blitz to maintain support for the U.S.-led war. The two leaders discussed the Afghan campaign and urged the world to be patient as the war unfolded.