The British Royal Marines ended their first large-scale combat mission in Afghanistan on Thursday after locating terrorist facilities and discovering documents and anti-aircraft ammunition. During the five-day mission, some 400 mostly British troops - as well as smaller U.S. and Afghan troop contingents - dug in along a rugged area of high desert near the Pakistani border where Operation Anaconda took place last month. U.S. soldiers went through the area during that mission, but allied intelligence said some al-Qaida and Taliban fighters may have returned. British Brig. Roger Lane said there was "evidence to suggest some terrorist facilities remained undiscovered and that (al-Qaida) forces had re-infiltrated." Allies said the area has been a key resupply route for al-Qaida and Taliban soldiers. He would not offer details on what that evidence was. Lane did say the marines found new cave complexes, including one containing 20,000 rounds of large-caliber ammunition usually associated with anti-aircraft artillery. After dumping out the ammunition and documents, the troops destroyed the caves.
This appears to have been a pretty routine scrub. They're getting their feet wet in anticipation of more serious things to come. It was as much an exercise as an operation. |