Video: 'Bombing Afghanistan - Oct 7, 2001 - NBC News Special Report'

(Sunday, October 7, 2001, 9:00 p.m. Afghanistan Time, during the United States invasion of Afghanistan, part of the War in Afghanistan and the War on Terror) — The United States, supported by Britain, began Operation Enduring Freedom, launching bombs and cruise missiles tonight against Taliban military and communications facilities and suspected terrorist training camps.

Video: 'CBS News - Afghanistan war - 2001-10-07'

The War in Afghanistan was in response to the September 11 attacks on the United States, with the stated goal of dismantling the Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terrorist organization and ending its use of Afghanistan as a base.

The campaign struck at several Afghan cities in the dead of night, aiming to take out some of the Taliban’s air defense installations, its defense ministry, airport-based command centers, airfields, electrical grids and other energy production facilities.

“The war against terrorism… will use every element of American influence and power,” Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld pledged this afternoon. “The aim is to create conditions for sustained anti-terrorist and humanitarian relief efforts in Afghanistan.”

Video: 'NBC Nightly News Oct 7, 2001 - America Strikes Back'

Among the early targets, Rumsfeld said, were radar installations around Kabul and Kandahar, and the Taliban’s estimated fleet of 80 combat aircraft, many believed to be of Soviet early Cold War vintage, including several aging MiG 21 fighters.

Rumsfeld said the U.S.-led assault is intended to “make it increasingly difficult for terrorists to use Afghanistan freely as a base of operations.”

“We intend to defeat those who use terrorism and those who house and support them,” said Rumsfeld, who spoke shortly after President George W. Bush announced the bombardment in a televised address.

Video: 'President George W. Bush’s full address announcing first U.S. strikes in Afghanistan - Oct. 7, 2001' (delivered at 1:00 p.m. EDT)

Commanders of the Northern Alliance, the opposition group that holds some 10 percent of Afghan territory and is said to have been making significant gains against the Taliban in the last several days — said their intelligence sources inside Taliban-controlled areas reported at least seven locations struck by U.S. and British forces, including the airports in Kabul and Kandahar and the Taliban Ministry of Defense in Kabul.

CNN‘s Kamal Hyder reported a huge explosion at an oil depot at the Herat airport, in western Afghanistan. Other targets were Jalalabad, in the east, and Mazar-e-Sharif and other towns in the north.

“It is important to go after the air defenses of the Taliban, and their aircraft,” Rumsfeld said. “We are also targeting the command facilities of terrorist forces.”