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Elusive Hunt For Al-Qaeda (Afghan)
BBC ^ | 11-14-2003 | Frank Gardner

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.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: afghanistan; alqaeda; elusive; hunt; southasia

1 posted on 11/14/2003 3:39:15 PM PST by blam
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To: blam
Go get 'em, guys.

And God be with you all.
2 posted on 11/14/2003 3:40:36 PM PST by Chummy
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To: blam
Hunt em. Kill em. Dead.
3 posted on 11/14/2003 3:41:55 PM PST by IonInsights
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To: blam; seamole; Angelus Errare; Coop
Wonder what lead us into this part of Afghanistan....BIG GAME maybe?
4 posted on 11/14/2003 3:44:19 PM PST by Dog (<---------- waiting for trouble to find me.;)
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To: blam
Smoke 'em out! Bring 'em to justice.
5 posted on 11/14/2003 3:44:32 PM PST by Spruce
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To: blam; dighton; aristeides; aculeus; marron
wild region of Nuristan

Nuristan is the formerly named Kafirstan.

As in, "Which way is Kafiristan, Danny?"

6 posted on 11/14/2003 3:49:42 PM PST by Shermy
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To: Shermy; aculeus; general_re; BlueLancer
‘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 it’s the top right-hand corner of Afghanistan, not more than three hundred miles from Peshawar. They have two-and-thirty heathen idols there, and we’ll be the thirty-third and thirty-fourth. It’s a mountainous country, and the women of those parts are very beautiful.’

-- The Man Who Would Be King


7 posted on 11/14/2003 4:06:00 PM PST by dighton
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To: Shermy
For as long as it was Kafiristan, its religion was a form of animism, not Islam. It was only converted to Islam fairly recently (around the beginning of the 20th century, I believe.)

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?

8 posted on 11/14/2003 4:16:30 PM PST by aristeides
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To: Shermy
If I'm right about its location, it is on the Chinese border. Maybe that explains it.
9 posted on 11/14/2003 4:17:09 PM PST by aristeides
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To: aristeides; dighton; swarthyguy

Which way is Kafiristan, Danny?

10 posted on 11/14/2003 4:23:09 PM PST by Shermy
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To: aristeides
Northeast of Kabul, Pak border.

Farther north is the Tajiks, Shah Massood's people I believe.
11 posted on 11/14/2003 4:24:21 PM PST by Shermy
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To: aristeides; Shermy; dighton
Where is Nuristân, and Who Cares?

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

12 posted on 11/14/2003 4:33:38 PM PST by blam
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To: blam
I sent a couple of disposable cameras off to the Stan. I hope they come back for developing.
13 posted on 11/14/2003 4:37:49 PM PST by armymarinemom (I Rocked the Cradle of Death from Above)
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To: Shermy; dighton; general_re; blam; aristeides; marron; BlueLancer

Hey, Jack, which way to Mecca?

14 posted on 11/14/2003 4:58:28 PM PST by aculeus
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To: aristeides; Shermy; blam
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/afghanistan/images/afghan-provinces-map.gif

Map of the provinces. Konar, and the Southern part of Badakshan border Kashmir; looks like that's where Nuristan is/was.

To think there were non islamics in the Hindu Kush until almost the 20th Century is pretty mind boggling.

15 posted on 11/14/2003 5:32:35 PM PST by swarthyguy
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To: Dog
Wonder what led us into this part of Afghanistan...?

Targets.

16 posted on 11/17/2003 5:09:22 AM PST by Coop (God bless our troops!)
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