<Hundreds of U.S. troops from the 10th Mountain Division and the 101st Airborne Division have rotated back to Bagram air base north of Kabul.

Several Chinook helicopters set down Monday at the base, in the shadow of the towering Hindu Kush mountain range, disgorging muddy, weary soldiers from the front lines.

[ ... ]

Pfc. Jason Ashline, 20, of New York, said he was struck by two bullets in the chest but he survived because the rounds lodged in his bulletproof flak vest



(btw, a flack vest is bullet resistant, not “bulletproof”).



"For a couple of seconds, everything was, like, in slow-motion," Ashline said. "I was pretty scared because I didn't feel no pain. I thought, 'what's wrong?' I thought maybe I was dead."

Soldiers returning for the front lines suggested that the bombardment was taking its toll on the al Qaeda forces. Lt. Col. Chris Bentley, 38, of Nacogdoches, Texas, said air power either neutralized or destroyed at least 20 cave complexes.




http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/09/11/attack/main310701.shtml

Dunno that rotating the troops is a bad thing or not, but apparently Commander Allah Mohammed preferred them out. Was it out of context? Probably not.

The heat of combat is not the best place for an experienced mentor to train others about the heat of combat. There’s no time for that, and getting rid of deadweight is a good thing for dismounted and light Infantry. It just gets in the way.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,13-233669,00.html

With Afghan fighters taking the lead on the ground in the mountains of Paktia province in eastern Afghanistan, U.S. troops prepared to turn their attention to pockets of opposition elsewhere in the country, officials said Tuesday.
http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/central/03/12/ret.afghanistan.fighting/index.html

Then again, pulling back your troops and allowing others to handle the mop-up gives you an experienced force with which to handle the remaining al Qui’da pockets. It’s a perfectly logical move.

That’s my gun! 81mm! Cool!
Image Credit: The Associated Press.

Hundreds of allied troops swept into the frigid Afghan mountains Tuesday to battle al-Qaida and Taliban holdouts. High-flying U.S. B-1 bombers pounded remaining enemy positions on a ridgeline as Afghan fighters moved tanks into position for what commanders described as a final push.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/627086.asp?0dm=C14TN&cp1=1

But you apparently don’t pull them all back. From your allies’ point of view, it just looks bad to cut-n-run. And I do agree with Aref’s comment, here:
"We are not in a position to say whether the operation is over or not," Mohammad Aref, an Afghan deputy commander, cautioned.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_1869000/1869153.stm

As for the tone of the “Times Online” piece, I see it as 2 opinions. Commander Allah Mohammed’ who is likely looking at only a piece of the battleground, and Catherine Philp, who might have graduated from that sensational-izing, much-revered National Enquirer’s School of Journalism.

But that’s just my opinion -- and it could be wrong,
Dan