Posted on 11/14/2003 3:39:15 PM PST by blam
Elusive hunt for al-Qaeda
By Frank Gardner
BBC security correspondent, Bagram airbase, Afghanistan
US troops have been beefing up their presence in the remote region
In the remote mountains of Afghanistan an unusual mission is underway. Large numbers of US troops have dropped in by helicopter to a place that has never seen Americans before.
US intelligence believes that the wild region of Nuristan and Kunar is harbouring militants linked to al-Qaeda and other groups.
Operation Mountain Resolve is aimed at destroying them and their bases. The US military has found it hard to locate al-Qaeda.
Now, it says, its troops have fought some gun battles up here but that their enemy has been running away.
'Dangerous terrain'
The US admits this is not an easy operation.
"There are frequent clashes between US-led forces and rebel fighters"
"This is some of the toughest terrain in Afghanistan," says Major Rodney Davis.
"It's some of the most dangerous terrain we've operated in since we've been in Afghanistan. Needless to say it has an impact on the soldiers involved in the operation."
US war planes are also involved, called in by the troops on the ground.
The air force considers this operation such a high priority, it has even diverted some of its planes from Iraq.
They have been flying ahead of the ground troops to warn them of what lies ahead.
Hunting 'elusive enemy'
We found this pilot as she was returning from a mission over Nuristan.
"We were just up there last night and they're moving," says Captain Jennifer Short.
"From last night just to today, they've made some progress and they sound good. So I think it must be going pretty well."
However, she would not be drawn on details.
For several days now this airbase at Bagram has been sending helicopters and attack aircraft up into the mountains of Nuristan.
They are hunting an elusive enemy.
But in the backs of everybody's minds is the possibility - just the possibility - that Osama Bin Laden himself could be up there.
Nuristan is the formerly named Kafirstan.
As in, "Which way is Kafiristan, Danny?"
We have slept over the notion half a year, and require to see Books and Atlases, and we have decided that there is only one place now in the world that two strong men can Sar-a-whack. [?] They call it Kafiristan. By my reckoning its the top right-hand corner of Afghanistan, not more than three hundred miles from Peshawar. They have two-and-thirty heathen idols there, and well be the thirty-third and thirty-fourth. Its a mountainous country, and the women of those parts are very beautiful.
By the way, isn't it the northeastern tip of Afghanistan? Wasn't it one of the last areas held by the Northern Alliance in the era of Taliban rule? What are the Islamofascists doing there?
The region called Nuristân is one in a chain of ethnic refuge areas that line the mountains of the Indian Plate collision zone from Afghânistân to Southeast Asia. Nuristân lies in the Hindu Kush mountains of northeastern Afghânistân, spanning the basins of the Alingâr, Pech, Landai Sin, and Kunar rivers. It is the homeland of a unique group of Indo-European-speaking tribal peoples, now called Nuristânis, who fled and resisted Islâm as it spread eastward. In 1895-96 the Nuristânis were finally conquered by the Afghân armies of Âmir Abdur Rahmân Khân, and the people were obliged to abandon their ancient religious beliefs in favor of Islâm.
Nuristânis are today such devout Muslims that they were the first citizens of Afghânistân to successfully revolt against the communist overthrow of their government in 1978. Their success inspired others throughout the country to rise up and bleed the Soviet Union to death through thirteen years of war. The straw that broke the Soviet Union's back sprouted in Nuristân, and we must acknowledge the pivotal historical role that the Nuristânis played in nurturing the seed. Nuristan
Hey, Jack, which way to Mecca?
Targets.
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