Posted on 02/23/2004 10:58:00 AM PST by swarthyguy
KARACHI - A massive land and air military operation on either side of the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan is now under way, with the main goals of catching leading commanders of the Afghan resistance, as well as Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar.
The focal point of the operation at this point is the tribal areas of North and South Waziristan on the Pakistani side, and Paktia and Paktika in Afghanistan. On Sunday, Pakistani Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat confirmed that Pakistani paramilitary troops had been deployed in these tribal areas.
In the coming weeks, the operation is gradually expected to increase in intensity and size and spread to all seven of the Pakistani-administrated tribal areas, and subsequently to all major Afghan cities, including Jalalabad, Asadabad, Gardez, Khost, Zabul and Kandahar, in a bid to wipe out the Afghan resistance.
Well-placed sources stationed in South Waziristan's Wana told Asia Times Online of a large mobilization of Pakistani troops in the two agencies, adding that several villages situated on the border had been evacuated as there were fears that they would be caught in crossfire between Pakistani troops, guerrillas and US-led coalition troops on the Afghan side of the border.
Pakistan law-enforcement agencies have virtually sealed entry and exit routes in North and South Waziristan, and travelers report exhaustive security checkposts.
Across in Afghanistan, coalition troops are conducting house-to-house searches in the town of Khost and its outskirts. Many suspects (mostly bearded with black turbans) have been rounded up. The main targets of operations here are resistance leaders Jalaluddin Haqqani and Saifullah Mansoor and their followers, who are believed to number between 2,000 and 2,500, spread all over the Khost, Paktia, Paktika and Gardez areas.
Asia Times Online can confirm media reports in Pakistan that Pakistan has allowed the US to use some of its air bases for surveillance purposes, including Kohat and Bannu. Residents of North West Frontier Province are already witnessing flights of US "spy" planes over the region.
The latest operation will be characterized by:
Very slow development. Deployment of troops over vast areas. Extensive use of aerial and satellite monitoring.
Coalition forces aim gradually to cordon off huge areas to squeeze out guerrillas, no matter how long it takes. This will lead to the second stage of the offensive, in which the "war" will spread across Pakistan's seven tribal areas and corresponding territory across the border in what the US terms a "hammer and anvil" approach.
Reports over the weekend in Britain's Sunday Express suggested that US and United Kingdom troops had cornered Mullah Omar and bin Laden in an area near Pakistan's Balochistan province. The Pakistan armed forces have denied this, and reject stories that any such foreign troops are operating in the country.
Resistance lying low At present, all the big names in the Afghan resistance movement are based in and around their "home" territory. For instance, Saifullah Mansoor moves around the Zarmat and Gardez area. Jalaluddin Haqqani and his guerrillas shelter in the mountainous terrain of Paktia province. Mullah Omar shuttles between Kandahar, Orugzan and Zabul. Ustad Fareed and Kashmir Khan are positioned in their Kunar Valley base. Key resistance leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, meanwhile, is the odd one out. He is in Kunar province, although his Khiroti tribe comes from Ghazni. He was born in Kunduz, but raised and educated in the capital Kabul. From his headquarters in Sorobi (near Kabul), he waged his battles against the former monarch Zahir Shah, the invading Soviets and the communist regime of the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Now he has made the Kunar Valley his base. A part of his strategy has been to restore communication with his former mujahideen friends in the guerrilla war against the Soviets in the 1980s who are now a part of the US-sponsored Hamid Karzai administration. These include Ismail Khan from Herat, Uzbek warlord General Rashid Dostum and Professor Abdul Rab Rasool Sayyaf.
Hekmatyar was recently offered a truce by the US and a role in the future political mainstream, but the veteran fighter has yet to respond. However, close associates of his Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan believe that at this point Hekmatyar will not leave the resistance, although he will not completely slam the door on dialogue. Insiders say that he aims to wait until the US leaves Afghanistan, at which point he will jump into the political pan. The late Northern Alliance leader Ahmed Shah Masoud adopted a similar strategy with Dr Najibullah's government in 1992. Masoud remained in touch with Najibullah's administration even though Masoud was at war with the communist regime. So when Najibullah decided to throw in the towel, he did so to Masoud's forces to the north, rather than to the Hezb-i-Islami forces in the south.
The response of the resistance to the new offensive has been deliberately muted. Even suicide missions and random guerrilla attacks have been scaled back as the resistance lies low, possibly until a major spring offensive is launched.
The number of foreign fighters in the resistance has dwindled, with only those Arabs and other fighters who have been in the country for many years and who speak local dialects and know the terrain left. Most of them are allied with commanders such as Saifullah Mansoor and Jalaluddin Haqqani. A few are stand-alone operators, such as bin Laden. At present they are believed to be hiding in an area that begins in Chitral and ends in Dir on the Pakistani side. Another possibility is the Khyber Agency.
As long as bin Laden remains at large, stories of his supposed whereabouts will help the coalition cause in spreading its net further and further. Pakistani troops have already been sent to Mohmand Agency, where tribal leaders have been given a warning to surrender their weapons or face the consequences. Next in line are Mohmand, Bajur, Orackzai and Khyber agencies. The situation is likely to reach a climax in April or May. One way or another, a big war looms in the region.
I'll ask to delete that post.
It would be a crucial blow for victory for our side to take one treacherous, double-dealing anti-American warlord and defeat him decisively and bring his crimes to light. Hekmatyar would be my candidate.
It would be a crucial blow for victory for our side to take one treacherous, double-dealing anti-American warlord and defeat him decisively and bring his crimes to light. Hekmatyar would be my candidate.
This report is dated 2002. It is unclear as to which December this took place. 2001 ? We did have some bib battles in the early months.
I doubt the claims of this report, that many Americans were slaughtered. Big Talk by the locals, methinks.
What say you ?
Actually, I'm glad the attention of the media is directed towards Iraq, so that the activities of our SF in Afghanistan can take place without their commentary.
My guess is maybe some foreign contract security folks have been rolled up, possibly some using US equipment. I don't think as many as 300 in one go have been so taken, but there are some posts with forces around half that size, so it's barely possible. I'll tickle a couple of my sources still there and see what they've got to say.
-archy-/-
What say you ?
I think if I was a news editor from any organization with staffers or stringers in the area who hadn't checked in over the last couple of days, it'll be time to be thinking about making some phone calls to widows. And there've been at least a few other US casualties in the area, though 200+ is a bit more than I think is realistic.
We'll see.
-archy-/-
We were at one point assembling a pretty fair Afghani armored battallion, using assorted Northern Alliance vehicles plus those of the former Taliban overlooked by the Air Force's attentions, mostly T54/55s. There were teething problems and, no doubt both personnel and mechanical difficulties. But it wouldn't surprise me much if Hekmatyar was exactly the sacrificial goat intended to be made an example of by such a force.
I'll make you a bet....we hear of the Bin Laden capture or he has been killed........here first.
And resupply efforts raking place during the winter of 2001 as well. No reason to think that additional efforts aren't now taking place.
The Guardian (London) - October 23, 2001
Russia in multi-million arms deal with Northern Alliance:
Weapons Moscow gives major backing to opposition forces
Old Soviet tanks, helicopters and kalashnikovs are being supplied in a multi-million dollar arms deal between the Russia and the Northern Alliance.
Russia has long been a secret ally of the Northern Alliance, supplying guns and supplies to the ousted Afghan government since 1996, but the terror attacks in the US has pushed Russia's support out into the open.
Russia's defence minister, Sergei Ivanov, has spelled out exactly what the Northern Alliance wants - familiar, old Soviet hardware that the Northern Alliance forces have used for years, first in the 1980s against the Soviet forces they had captured the arms from and then in the 1990s in the series of civil wars.
The arms deal is estimated to be worth between Dollars 40-Dollars 70m.
"Russia was supplying all the time," said a defence analyst, Pavel Felgenhauer. "But this is a major extra investment for the Northern Alliance to make a major offensive and sweep the Taliban out of northern Afghanistan." Old Soviet T-55 tanks, military helicopters, kalashnikovs, Igla and Shilka mobile anti-aircraft missile and armoured fighting missiles are reported to have been among the first deliveries to Afghanistan.
***Forty tanks and twelve military helicopters are still to be delivered, according to the Associated Press.
"Afghans who have been fighting for the 20 years, including Northern Alliance fighters, know the old military equipment better than many servicemen in the Russian armed forces," said Mr Ivanov earlier this month.
"The Northern Alliance needs simple and very reliable, tested equipment: T-55 tanks, ammunition and submachine guns", he added.
"If they get other submachine guns, they (Northern Alliance fighters) throw them away with indignation and demand only Kalashnikovs," the minister said.
The Northern Alliance, Ivanov said, needs "ordinary artillery guns with shells and ordinary battle infantry vehicles and armoured personnel carriers".
"These are quite ordinary, simple but reliable weapons, withstanding fluctuations of temperature and humidity," he added.
As well as military equipment and supplies some Russian defence experts have claimed that Russia has supplied technical specialists.
Mr Felgenhauer, citing mili tary sources, said that a number of Russian technical specialists are already in northern Afghanistan helping the rebels. Other experts, and Mr Ivanov, have said the equipment is simple enough to be operated without technical assistance.
Russia is not keen on footing the bill for the expensive airlift operation. Mr Ivanov has asked the US for help and Andrei Belyaninov, the chief of Russia's chief defence exporter, Rosoboronexport, is said to have discussed the matter with the British defence minister, Geoff Hoon, when he was in Moscow earlier this month.
Supplies began to flow into Afghanistan at the end of September.
Ammunition and military hardware is being delivered to the Northern Alliance via pontoon bridges built by Russia's 201st division over the Pyandj river that divides Tajikistan and Afghanistan, Nezavismaya Gazeta reported.
*************************************************
Upgraded T-55 tanks key to Afghan ground offensive By David C Isby
16 November 2001
Upgraded T-55 main battle tanks (MBTs), recently supplied by Russia to the anti-Taliban United Front (the so-called Northern Alliance) and manned by veteran crews from the forces of the late Ahmed Shah Massoud, are considered key to any successful ground offensive in Afghanistan this year.
In October, Russia announced that 40 upgraded T-55AM MBTs were to be supplied to the United Front. The decision to supply them had been made earlier this year and most, if not all, of the tanks are believed to have been in Afghan hands before 11 September.
The upgraded tanks are readily distinguished from the 1992-vintage T-55s - which make up the bulk of the Northern Alliance's tank force - by their T-80-style commander's windshield on the turret roof. Many Northern Alliance MBTs have been dug-in and used as artillery due to a shortage of fuel and logistic support in recent years.
The 40 T-55AM2s were supplied as part of a large-scale arms-transfer package valued at US$45 million. This also includes up to 80 BMP-1 infantry combat vehicles and several dozen BTR-60 series wheeled armoured personnel carriers.
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