AFGHANISTAN: Coalition forces in Afghanistan yesterday launched an offensive in the southern mountains aimed at capturing a key Taliban commander.
The Afghan Islamic Press, reported helicopter-borne US troops landing among villages in the barren Meezai Mountains, 18 miles south of the town of Gardez. A force of up to 1,000 American paratroopers has been sent to reinforce the operation, with four Apache attack helicopters moved to a base outside Gardez to provide fire support. US troops inside Pakistan were yesterday rocketed - a surprise as both Pakistan and the Pentagon have until now denied that US combat forces are operating in the country. The man being targeted is warlord Maulvi Jalaluddin Haqqani, dug in with his troops close to the Pakistan border. The coalition land commander, Maj-Gen Franklin Hagenbeck, identified Haqqani as a key member of the "middle level" Taliban and al-Qaida leadership who are continuing the war from the hills.
There is impatience among commanders to get to grips with al-Qaida forces who have had the best of five months fighting in the southern mountains.