AFGHANASTAN: US and Afghan troops are mopping up a shrinking force of al- Qaeda fighters blasted by more than 2,500 bombs in the eastern Afghan mountains, but the 11-day battle is not over, according to senior Pentagon officials.
"Much fewer in number, al- Qaeda forces are still holed up in small pockets scattered throughout the area," Brig Gen John Rosa told reporters at a briefing on the biggest US-led military operation of the war in Afghanistan.
"Operation Anaconda continues," he said. "In the last 24 hours we have flown more than 180 sorties over Afghanistan and dropped more than 100 bombs, bringing the total bombs dropped in this operation to more than 2,500."
The general added that most of the more than 40 caves in the area had not been searched for remnants of up to 800 or more guerrillas believed to have regrouped there two weeks ago. "We have started, but are nowhere near completing entering the large majority of those caves . . . with the booby traps, with the land mines, with the unexpended ordnance, we have got to go very slow, very calculating, very carefully."
In Afghanistan yesterday, a senior Afghan general said US and Afghan troops had overrun Taliban and al-Qaeda rebels around Shahi Kot, sending them fleeing toward Pakistan and effectively ending the biggest battle of the Afghan war.
Pentagon spokeswoman Ms Victoria Clarke told reporters the fighting in the area 150 km south of Kabul was winding down.
"There is no pause" for surrender negotiations, Gen Rosa said, repeating claims by the US military that hundreds of regrouping al- Qaeda fighters had been killed and that none had offered to surrender.
Eight US troops were killed in the operation, and Gen Rosa said fewer than 20 suspected al-Qaeda and Taliban had been captured.
In Afghanistan, Gen Abdullah Joyenda said US and Afghan forces were in control of the entire Shahi Kot area. Earlier yesterday, before the final advance, a US military spokesman in Afghanistan said there had been no accurate or sustained enemy fire for more than five days. - (Reuters)
President Saddam Hussein of Iraq, defiant of the threatened US military action to depose him, has described the efforts of the US Vice President, Mr Dick Cheney, to drum up Arab support for the venture as futile.
Mr Cheney arrived in Jordan yesterday for an extensive tour of Arab states. Although Arab leaders have publicly expressed opposition to such an attack, Arab diplomats insist that privately most of the region's heads of state would be pleased to be rid of Saddam.
Nevertheless, he may try to fend off a military attack by letting UN weapons inspectors back to check if he is hiding chemical and biological weapons or developing nuclear weapons and extending the range of his missiles.
That would split the international coalition: it would satisfy almost the entire EU and although it might not satisfy the US, it would make it harder for Washington to launch an attack. - (Guardian service)