WASHINGTON, Nov. 5 — A combination of heavy-duty bombs and more precise target information from Russia and from American special operations forces on the ground have helped the United States escalate attacks on caves and tunnels in Afghanistan that have been identified as Taliban arms depots and command centers, military officials said today.

The bombing, which has included the use of 5,000-pound bunker-busters, came as American Special Forces deepened their involvement in the conflict. Today, commandos spirited out of southern Afghanistan a prominent opposition leader, Hamid Karzai, who has been trying to organize a rebellion in the Taliban's stronghold, a military official said.

As the campaign entered its fifth week, the United States has been trying to intensify military firepower and psychological pressure on Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters.

On Sunday, for the first time, the Air Force dropped a 15,000-pound fuel-air explosion bomb on Taliban positions behind the front lines. The weapon, a "Daisy Cutter," was used in the last year of the Vietnam War.

But officials said the key to destroying Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters and supplies hidden in deep cave complexes is the more precise information on targets.

The expansion of Special Forces activity has vastly improved the American military's ability to strike Taliban targets accurately, officials said. Better intelligence from foreign sources has also helped.

A Pentagon official said Russia, whose forces spent a decade fighting in Afghanistan, had specifically helped identify caves, tunnels and other command centers that had been used by Afghan forces.

"The Russians are being very helpful," said a Pentagon official. "There's lots of stuff coming in. The problem now is sifting through it."

Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld said today that over the weekend, the United States also doubled the number of Special Forces working with Northern Alliance rebels inside Afghanistan to help provide, among other things, accurate information on targets.

"We've gone two and a half times above what we had and we're now, instead of two locations, we're now in four and maybe more," Mr. Rumsfeld said today, adding that most of the Special Forces were in the north.

Mr. Rumsfeld said last week that he wanted to quadruple the number of Special Forces on the ground. Officials said that would bring the total in the country to about 100 soldiers and officers, which is an Army Special Forces company.

"Clearly, the targeting is improving," Mr. Rumsfeld said. "When you're doing it without contact with forces on the ground, and you compare that with doing it with precision weapons and people on the ground who can give you precise coordinates, you just have an enormous advantage."

Mr. Rumsfeld said that battlefield assessments from intelligence sources, including spy planes and satellites, showed that the bombing was steadily destroying the Taliban's military.

"There's no question but that the numbers of things — armored personnel carriers, artillery pieces, troop gatherings — that we're targeting, the numbers that we're actually hitting, and know we're hitting, are going up every day," Mr. Rumsfeld said.

Mr. Rumsfeld made his comments on his flight back from a four-day trip to Russia, Central Asia, Pakistan and India to consult with allies, negotiate additional basing rights for fighter-bombers and fine-tune strategy.

Today, B-52 bombers and other American aircraft pounded Taliban targets in northeastern Afghanistan, where the Northern Alliance is fighting for control of supply routes into neighboring Tajikistan ahead of winter. Warplanes also hit Taliban forces dug in north of Kabul.

"We continue to strike at Taliban infrastructure wherever possible to wither away the Taliban's ability to regenerate, re-equip and resupply forces in the field as the demanding winter season approaches," said Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem, a deputy director of the operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Over generations, the Afghans have become masters at hiding crucial supplies of food, fuel and weapons in hundreds, perhaps thousands of caves around the country. Troops and their commanders use the caves for shelter. By attacking these complexes, the Pentagon is hoping to kill militia fighters and destroy many of their essential supplies.

Warplanes are dropping an array of weapons on the caves and tunnels, ranging from 2,000-pound laser- and satellite-guided bombs, to a small number of 5,000-pound munitions that can burrow down more than four stories before detonating to demolish underground complexes. Air Force F-15E's can also carry a 2,000- pound AGM-130 missile that is guided to its target by a video camera.

Identifying the caves, whose entrances are often camouflaged or tucked into the folds of gullies or hillsides, can be extremely difficult for pilots flying at high altitudes. But Russia and other countries, including Pakistan, Britain and France, have been willing to share considerable information that has helped in finding targets, officials said.

"We have better knowledge now of where these caves are and who or what is inside of them," said a senior military officer. "Some of the intelligence is coming from Special Forces on the ground. Some of it is coming from defectors."

Bombing the caves has also forced the Taliban to move their supplies and command bunkers from the secure hiding places, making them more vulnerable, officials said.

"We are striking at the caves that we have learned that they utilize or have utilized," Admiral Stufflebeem said. "So we believe that we are chipping away at Al Qaeda."

When asked if commandos would at some point conduct raids on some of the cave complexes that bombing fails to destroy, Admiral Stufflebeem said, "All elements of our coalition forces will at some time likely be brought to bear."

In the wake of Mr. Rumsfeld's visit to Central Asia, American inspection teams have been dispatched to Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan to assess whether former Soviet bases are usable for American warplanes.

Up to now, the United States has relied mainly on carrier-based aircraft that are hours away from their targets. Basing Air Force fighter- bombers like F-15E's, F-16's and A- 10's at closer Central Asian installations would enable the military to carry out more frequent combat missions.

Those bases might also assist in resupplying rescue missions, although the operation to whisk Mr. Karzai out of southern Afghanistan today, was probably launched from Pakistan or from one of the American vessels offshore. Pentagon officials tonight would not discuss the mission in any detail.

Mr. Rumsfeld said over the weekend that the United States had dropped food and ammunition to Mr. Karzai, and hinted that more help might be on the way. American Special Forces had been in contact with Mr. Karzai before today, a Pentagon official said, and there were discussions under way on how to increase the military support. But the official said the Central Intelligence Agency had taken the lead so far in helping organize anti-Taliban resistance in southern Afghanistan.