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Return to Tora Bora
A MSM article that is hard to EFL, but I did - go read the whole thing.But six years after US special forces failed to capture the al-Qa'eda leader in his mountain stronghold, the place where the September 11 attacks were hatched, American troops are again scouring the mountains of Tora Bora. A week ago American forces launched a major operation to counter a rejuvenated al-Qa'eda, which has been steadily regrouping in the tribal areas of Pakistan, and has in the past three months moved back into the Tora Bora area of Afghanistan. American military officials say much of what is happening around Tora Bora remains "classified". Discreetly, Western officials in Kabul describe it as "very successful", trapping insurgents in a series of adjacent valleys. "Five hundred infiltrated the area," said Gen Qadim Shah, the commander of 1st Brigade, Afghan Army in Nangahar. "We have captured 57 fighters from the Taliban and al-Qa'eda. They include Chechens, Arabs and Uzbeks." Tribal leaders said that these include several men known locally as long-standing Afghan figures in the al-Qa'eda leadership. Gen Dan McNeill, the Nato commander, moved a battalion from 82nd Airborne, which makes up his operational reserve in Afghanistan, from Helmand to support the operation. Pakistani troops are also reported to have taken up The Daily Telegraph was the first Western newspaper to reach the area of the fighting, thanks to help from local tribesmen who smuggled us in along the only access road. Three US special forces soldiers and their translator were killed (bows in their honor) on the approaches to the caves last week and Western officials say that two helicopters have also been damaged in the fighting. Taliban fighters had last been reported in the area the day before, when they severely beat a number of local villagers. The intelligence officer contacted US forces by phone to forestall the danger of an air attack. Newly-built Taliban stone firing positions were visible close to the track. In 2001 the US was widely criticised for relying on local militias, who reputedly took bribes to allow the majority of al-Qa'eda's key leadership to escape. This time American forces were dropped unexpectedly into the area by helicopter, blocking escape routes to the border. Taliban "night letters" in local villages announced a new "Tora Bora Front" under the leadership of Maulawi Anwar ul-Haq Mujahed, the son of the prominent Mujahideen commander Younis Khalis, who fought the Soviet occupation. An important al-Qa'eda figure, Dr Amin ul-Haq, who has been listed by the US government as bin Laden's security co-ordinator, was also with the force. Local leaders say Amin was injured in a bombing raid and smuggled back across the border. Posted by: Glenmore 2007-08-24 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=197076 |