GARDEZ, AFGHANISTAN | Saturday
US-led forces said on Saturday they were preparing a ”final push” to destroy an al-Qaeda stronghold in eastern Afghanistan, as dense fog hampered warplanes that have bombarded the snowy mountains for a week.
The US-led coalition said troops had killed more than 500 of the enemy fighters holed up in the Arma mountains in the eight-day-old offensive, the deadliest for US forces since the Afghan campaign began October 7.
Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said many warplanes had been grounded on Friday because of the ”just terrible” weather in the area, but that US forces were reporting ”very little ground fire” from al-Qaeda fighters.
As the fog and thick clouds began to ease on Saturday, a military representative said the coalition was preparing ”the final push” to crush the al-Qaeda hideout.
”We certainly destroyed a great deal of the terrorists and extremists,” US Major Brian Hilferty said.
”But if there are more there, as long as they continue to fight and they’re there and they don’t surrender, this mission will continue,” he told reporters at Bagram Air Base.
Hilferty said the sub-zero temperatures and rain could also work to the US forces’ advantage because it made life ”more difficult on the ground”.
”We’re able to catch people hunkered down because they’re cold and tired, and we will exploit that,” he said.
He said at least one ”high-value target” had been identified in the mountains.
”We have seen someone and there are other people around him and they’re acting like he is a high-value target,” he said.
US officials have refused to speculate whether al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the Saudi dissident who allegedly masterminded the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, is holed up in the mountains.
Earlier in the campaign the US military for the first time dropped a powerful thermobaric ”fuel-air” bomb that can devastate underground bunkers.
President George Bush said the forces were ”making great progress” in Operation Anaconda, named after the snake that encircles and crushes its prey.
”These people evidently don’t they don’t want to give up. And that’s okay. If that’s their attitude, we’ll just have to adjust, and they will have made a mistake,” Bush said Friday on a visit to Florida.
Eight US servicemen have been killed in the operation, making it the deadliest fighting for US forces since the Afghan campaign began on October 7.
Three allied Afghans have also been killed. Hilferty said a total of 70 coalition troops have been wounded.
More than 1 000 US regular and special forces are on the ground, along with some 200 commandos from European countries, Canada and Australia.
Hundreds of US-equipped Afghans have also fought in the campaign. Some 1 000 troops have also been deployed by Afghanistan’s interim government and overnight began pouring into Gardez, the capital of Paktia province.
Some 200 fighters, some wearing only sandals in the snow, were posted a couple of hundred meters away from the headquarters of provincial governor Taj Mohammad Wardak, who had requested the troops.
Their commander, Lieutenant General Shah Mahmud Pupal, acknowledged the troops were poorly equipped but said they were waiting for more supplies.
It is the first time the interim government has deployed troops since it took power in December after the extremist Taliban regime was routed.
But their presence has not been welcomed by all quarters in Paktia, which is dominated by ethnic Pashtuns who formed the bulwark of the Taliban.
Most of the troops sent here appear to be ethnic Tajiks affiliated with the Northern Alliance, which fought the Taliban’s five-year rule and dominated the Kabul government.
Elders and commanders from 11 districts agreed to oppose the deployment and have voiced their concern to US authorities, a commander told the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press.
”We are certain that deployment of Northern Alliance troops will add to the problems in the area,” Mohammad Ayoub said.- Sapa-AFP
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