- Hundreds of American troops were pulled out of the ground
battle with al-Qaeda forces because they failed to adapt to the guerrilla
tactics required for fighting in the mountains, according to their Afghan
allies.
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- More than 1,000 Afghan troops rushed to the front line
yesterday to take up the slack after the withdrawal of 400 US troops from
the mountains of eastern Afghanistan.
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- The American military has described the withdrawal as
a tactical reappraisal of their battleplan, but Afghan commanders told
a different story of inexperienced American soldiers unable to advance
through the unfamiliar mountains to track down al-Qaeda and Taleban foes.
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- "They were not trained for the kind of fighting
we do in the mountains and, in these conditions, their kind of fighting
is useless," Commander Allah Mohammed said. "They were weakening
our morale, it was better for them to go."
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- As dawn broke, hundreds of Afghan fighters mounted their
creaking Soviet-era tanks and set off towards the snow-covered ridge of
Shahi-Kot, where the remaining al-Qaeda forces are hiding. Belching black
smoke, the tanks chugged their way to a mud-walled fort, where troops were
assembling around their leader, the Tajik commander, Gul Haider.
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- The last time that these forces met the Taleban was on
the northern Shomali Plain, from where they swept into Kabul as the Taleban
fled south. It is hoped their familiarity with the Taleban,s tactics will
help them to succeed where American troops failed.
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- Shah Mahood Popal, their deputy commander, believed it
was self-preservation that stopped the Americans from launching a more
decisive attack. "They didn't want to risk losing lots of fighters.
Afghans don't care if they lose lots of fighters, so we are better suited
for the task. They should stick to bombing," he said.
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- As he finished, the dark shape of a warplane swept the
blue sky above and a loud boom ricochetted off the mountains. Three puffs
of black smoke rose up from the snowy ridge. "They are still trying
to wipe out the al-Qaeda from the air," Habib Afghan, a commander
said, "but if forces don't go in, it is impossible to finish them
off."
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- The new troops were dispatched from Kabul last week after
it became clear that the Americans had underestimated the number of militants
still left hiding up in the mountains. Afghan commanders believe that the
US has exaggerated the number of casualties in the bombing campaign, saying
that at least several hundred al-Qaeda forces are up in mountain caves
ready to fight back.
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- "We have been very close to their positions and
we have seen no dead bodies," Commander Mohammed said.
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- Afghan leaders say the many pathways through the mountains
are providing not only escape routes for the fighters but a means of replenishing
their ranks.
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- Shahi-Kot has been called the last bastion of al-Qaeda
in Afghanistan, but there is evidence that other pockets of resistance
still exist in provinces to the south. Commanders say that before Operation
Anaconda began, there had been only a small number of al-Qaeda in the mountains.
They were attempting to negotiate a surrender when the offensive began,
bringing al-Qaeda forces from all over the south running to Shahi Kot to
help in the battle. "We were communicating with them, but the Americans
would not allow us to negotiate," Commander Mohammed said. "This
paved the way for the other Arabs to join them."
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- The Arabs are thought to have made their way here from
a number of locations in southern Pakistan and Afghanistan, in particular,
a secret Taleban base in Zabul Province, north of Kandahar. Former Taleban
sources predict that the base could be the scene of the next operation
against al-Qaeda. "This battle will not be the last, one former official
said. "The network is far from dead."
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- http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,13-233669,00.html
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