Bombing raids, entering their fourth night Wednesday, have wiped out many targets in a nation with relatively little of substance to strike.

Still, the captain aboard the USS Enterprise, one of two aircraft carrier battle groups involved in the strikes, said work remains to be done.

Afghanistan has been targeted because its ruling Taliban militia is protecting Osama bin Laden, the main suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

Pilots say they're still drawing anti-aircraft fire _ some say it was heavier than initially expected if far less concentrated and threatening than in operations elsewhere in the world.

But targets steadily are disappearing, planes often return without having dropped their bombs and U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, as well as ship commanders, have claimed air supremacy.

Seventy planes, including two squadrons of F-14s and two of F-18s, fly off the Enterprise in the Arabian Sea.

Pilots of one of the F-18 squadrons and one of the F-14 squadrons spoke Wednesday with reporters. Both squadrons are home-based in Norfolk, Va. The Pentagon is not allowing journalists to use last names of servicemen and women.

"The first night, we were a little more cautious because we hadn't taken out the radar sites yet, we hadn't taken out their airplanes," said 36-year-old Lt. Cmdr. Karl of Abbeville, La. "Now, the only thing that's flying there is us. We know what capabilities they have."

The biggest fear now is overconfidence, said Karl, who dropped laser-guided bombs from his F-18 at a suspected militant training camp the first night and at a radar facility the second.

Karl, who participated in U.S. military operations against Iraq, said Baghdad's anti-aircraft fire was much worse: "The stuff we're seeing is small, small air defenses."

Another commander, Dave, 38, from Lockport, N.Y., also headed out the first night, participating in the initial strike wave from the USS Enterprise _ a three-hour mission that sent him and a wingman to drop four bombs on a suspected training camp.

Radio communication that night was businesslike, he said, and everything seemed to be going as expected _ no surprises and a lot of successful strikes. Warplanes stayed well above the anti-aircraft fire.

By Tuesday, Lt. Cmdr. Tim, an F-18 pilot from Wichita Falls, Texas, was participating in the first daylight combat duty off the Enterprise.

Part of a combat air patrol to protect refueling and other U.S. planes lacking their own defenses, he also was on call should any targets be spotted on the ground. Tim, 38, struck a radar ground control site.

On Wednesday, Lt. Cmdr. Chris, 30, of Baltimore, finished a six-hour mission that included striking targets near Kandahar airport.

"You felt like you were defending your country," Chris said.

"The amount of resistance that we've seen in this theater is significantly less than you would see in Iraq, significantly less than we saw in Kosovo," said Chris, an F-18 pilot. "You're not dealing with as sophisticated an air-defense system."

In some places, the resistance is fairly intense, requiring more maneuvering than expected, said an F-14 commander, Bruce, from Spokane, Wash.

In a public address Wednesday, the captain of the Enterprise praised the crew's performance but said it wasn't time to rest yet.

Enterprise crew were allowed to contact family members back home for the first time since the strikes began Sunday.

Each person could send only one e-mail, and they had to be short and personal. Most importantly, they could say nothing about the operation.

Danny, a 19-year-old from New York City, was sitting in a computer lounge reading incoming e-mail when the captain announced each person could send a message. For Danny and others, mom got priority and a reassuring note was quickly finished and sent for screening.

"She e-mailed yesterday _ hopes I'm OK and everything's all right," he said. "It's nice to know they're out there thinking about you."