TAGAB VALLEY, Afghanistan (AP) - Hundreds of Taliban fighters had massed just 100 kilometres north of the Afghan capital Kabul in an isolated valley, where militants trained suicide bombers who launched a deadly wave of attacks this fall. Military officials feared a bloody winter campaign in Kabul, an extension of an unprecedented bombing rampage that's seen 115 suicide attacks across Afghanistan this year.
| Good grief. Only an idjit would say they "feared" it. They "anticipated" it, perhaps, but no more than that. Were AP not despicably evil, they would be funny. |
U.S. Special Forces said a little-publicized Afghan-U.S. operation in the Tagab Valley north of the city busted three suicide training compounds and scattered hundreds of Taliban fighters. "There was definitely the potential for Tagab to provide that launch board, if you will, for additional attacks," U.S. Army Special Forces Lt.-Col. Lynn Ashley said this week. "A threat to Bagram, a threat to Kabul," he said, referring to the main U.S. base in Afghanistan.