December 14, 2001 Posted: 8:22 p.m. EST (0122 GMT)

(CNN) -- Opposition fighters, aided by U.S. special forces and intensive airstrikes, have "contained" a major pocket of al Qaeda in the mountainous Tora Bora region in eastern Afghanistan, Gen. Tommy Franks, chief of the U.S. Central Command, said Friday.

While saying he did not know the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden, Franks noted "we know where the fight is" -- an area between two valleys near Tora Bora. Eastern Alliance fighters to the north have made "steady progress" against the al Qaeda from the north, while to the south Pakistan has beefed up its military presence along its border with Afghanistan.

U.S. bombs and Eastern Alliance forces hammered at al Qaeda positions in the snow-covered mountains Friday, narrowing the locale in which the enemy can operate, Afghan commander Hazrat Ali said.

"We can wait longer than they can," Franks said. "And we'll maintain pressure on this pocket of al Qaeda until they are ours."

Meanwhile, the fallout continued Friday from the release of a videotape showing bin Laden bragging about the destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11. President Bush dismissed accusations that U.S. authorities had doctored the tape, calling it "a feeble excuse to provide weak support for an incredibly evil man."