<

Allies Searching Afghan Caves
Friday, March 15, 2002
(18:45 GMT)
The Cable News Network

"Our enemy ... are certainly dead-enders -- the most committed, the most dangerous trained killers, and as we've seen, the least likely to surrender," Maj. Gen. Frank L. Hagenbeck said. "Nevertheless, we've killed hundreds of them and will continue combat operations in the Shah-e-kot mountains until we remove the terrorist parasites that threaten Afghanistan and the peace of the world."

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan -- CNN
With the conventional battle over in the Afghan mountains -- at least for now -- U.S. soldiers and their allies plied the heights around the Shah-e-kot V alley on Friday looking to take down whatever remains of Taliban and al Qaeda fighters and their strongholds.

"We're going to continue to look for any al Qaeda, Taliban members ... in Afghanistan," said U.S. land forces commander Lt. Gen. Paul T. Mikolashek. "There are certainly those that exist elsewhere in the country, particularly in the area we've been working on, and we're going to continue to seek them out, rout them out, take them out."

U.S. Army spokesman Maj. Brian Hilferty said forces in the mountains conducted meticulous cave-to-cave searches, destroying what weapons the Afghan forces didn't want and collecting whatever information the al Qaeda fighters had left behind.

"We have seen little enemy movement, but we did engage some enemy forces in the Shah-e-kot Valley area," Hilferty said.
(More: CNN.com News Source)
2002 © Cable News Network LP, LLLP.

Dan