"The US miltary at that time did not have any means of indentifying targets"
Well they had Predator, Teribus, at least towards the end of the Clinton administration. And when they eventually got around to arming it, it proved very effective indeed.
Arming the Northern Alliance would not have been too much of a problem, according to Richard Armitage. The problem he found was more 'cosmetic': "It was making sure that we wouldn't be embarrassed by what they were. And no matter the charismatic nature of Ahmed Shah Massoud -- and he was quite charismatic -- that doesn't make up for raping, drug dealing, et cetera, which many of the Northern Alliance had been involved with"
Samuel Berger did not believe that: " ... before September 11th that the American people or the international community would have supported an invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, notwithstanding the fact we had a President who in 1996 said, "This is the challenge of our generation. This is the threat of our generation." "

Jim