US-backed Afghan forces have seized key terrain and taken Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters prisoner as hundreds of government troops joined the battle Tuesday in the Arma mountains. A spokesman for the commander of the interim government troops told AFP by telephone that hundreds of men from the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance were moving through the Shahi Kot valley backed by heavy armour and US forces. It is the first time Northern Alliance soldiers have taken an active part in the US-led Operation Anaconda against the last known stronghold of Taliban and al-Qaeda extremists in Afghanistan, and came as the United States continued to pull its ground forces out of the battle zone. Some 600 US troops have returned to this air base north of Kabul in the past three days as the fresh Afghan government troops moved into the battlefield in eastern Paktia province.
Bet the Pashtuns are unhappy, now that Cousin Mahmud is getting whacked by out-of-towners. The Heroic Forces of Pashtunistan don't look that good standing next to the Tadjiks. They have real impressive turbans, though. |