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Afghan, U.S. Forces Seek Fleeing Taliban
EFL/FU:
Afghan and U.S. forces scoured gorges and rugged mountain peaks in southern Zabul for suspected Taliban fleeing fighting that left scores of insurgents dead, an Afghan commander said Thursday.
Got them on the run.
While Afghan officials claimed victory, the U.S. military said the battle in Zabul’s Dai Chopan district was not over.
We have different ideas on this concept, it’s a cultural thing.
Separately, at least 24 Pakistani military helicopters swooped in low over the tribal regions that border Afghanistan in a renewed hunt for fleeing al-Qaeda and Taliban, witnesses said Thursday.
Hummmm.
Government officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said several of the helicopters carried "foreign" forces, an apparent reference to U.S. forces.
Bringing U.S. troops in (80%) or taking al-Qaida out(20%)?
Probably Samoans.
The U.S. military earlier deployed an unknown number of special forces into Pakistan’s rugged tribal regions, but their whereabouts are kept secret and they keep a low profile, largely because of the deeply insane conservative nature of the region.
Inserting a blocking force from the Pak side of the border?
The Dai Chopan district in Afghanistan was the site of a nine-day offensive and some of the heaviest fighting since the ouster of the ruling Taliban in late 2001. "The operation is ongoing, we are still searching for the enemy. We are not completed in Dai Chopan," U.S. military spokesman Maj. Ralf Marino said Thursday at Bagram Air Base. The main Afghan commander in the area, Haji Saifullah Khan, said the guerrilla fighters who escaped the battlefield have scattered in small groups to safe havens in neighboring provinces. "It is not known so far whether Taliban leaders were among the dead," Khan said. "Many of the bodies were in bad shape."
"Euwww, gross!"
"Mahmoud! Is this Mullah Omar's nose?"
Afghan troops have found the bodies of at least 124 rebels since the joint offensive by Afghan government and U.S.-led forces began early last week, Zabul Intelligence Chief Khalil Hotak said. Five Afghan government troops were killed in the fighting. U.S. officials have put the confirmed death toll among the insurgents at just 37, but they have not updated that figure since Monday. Khan said the U.S. forces laid siege to mountain caves in Larzab and Sairo Ghar mountains of Zabul province and Afghan soldiers moved in when the fighting ended.
Posted by: Steve 2003-09-04
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=18310