"Someone tipped them off, maybe they escaped to Afghanistan."
Pretty sure I mentioned a long while back that the fat lady couldn't sing until there was a Pak troop standing on the border shaking hands with an American troop every twenty five yards.
Within the North and South Waziristan regions, this is now within the realm of possibility for all points south of Mangrotai and north of Nawe Kot.
The overriding goal has always been to deny the enemy the trade routes and sanctuary of these border regions. That at least some enemy forces are still in the area is evidenced by the continued attacks on Coalition troops.
But the areas where they can live and attack with impugnity are now confined to those adjacent to a stretch of border less than 25 miles long, as compared to more than 100 miles of border at the beginning of Operation Mountain Storm.
The area enclosed by the Pak lines has shrunk from more than 1500 square miles since the Paks first closed the perimeter, to less than 400 square miles currently, but most importantly, the Pak army is now inside the Shawal, not just on the ridgeline, but down on the valley floor, operating, so far, without resistance, and now with easy access to all but a small part of the region unencumbered by easily defended ridgelines.
http://users.in-motion.net/~jefft/tech/Mapping/afghanistan/paklines_sm.jpg
Short and sweet...the wolves are in the fold.
We're IN.
Unfortunately I don't think OBL and his evil deputy are anywhere in the vicinity. (Although I'd love to be proven wrong!)
