U.S. Announces New Afghan Operation

Saturday, March 13, 2004
(4:52 AM ET)
By Stephen Graham

Associated Press Writer

Lt. Gen. David Barno, the top American commander in Afghanistan, has said his soldiers are engaged in a ``hammer-and-anvil'' strategy along with Pakistani forces on the other side of the border. Some 70,000 Pakistani troops have moved into semiautonomous tribal regions to take away maneuver room for al-Qaida and Taliban fugitives believed to have taken refuge there.

Afghan soldiers belonging to a factional militia brigade ride on the top of a Russian-made armored vehicle during a ceremony held in a cantonment outside Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, March 11, 2004. Most of the tanks and armored vehicles of militias moved from the capital to the compound and handed over to the government army Thursday as part of the disarmament of the country's unruly militias.

Image Credit: Amir Shah -- AP

KABUL, Afghanistan -- AP
The U.S. military on Saturday announced a sweeping new operation across troubled southern and eastern Afghanistan, with the aim of destroying al-Qaida and the Taliban and ultimately reeling in Osama bin Laden.

The offensive comes as Americans step up their hunt for the al-Qaida leader and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, who are believed to be hiding out in the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

U.S. soldiers guard a group of Afghans at a roadside checkpoint Friday, March 12, 2004 in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Despite intense efforts by Pakistani, U.S. and Afghan military forces, Afghans insist that the border remains an open door for Taliban crossing into Afghanistan to carry out attacks.

Image Credit: Ed Wray -- AP

``We believe this will help bring the heads of the terrorist organizations to justice, by continuing placing pressure on them,'' said Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, a U.S. military spokesman.

The operation, however, was ``about more than one person,'' he said. Hilferty said American forces were confident they will eventually catch the al-Qaida leadership as well as Taliban chief Mullah Mohammed Omar, but not necessarily during the new operation.

A Pakistani border guard stands atop a berm they have erected at the border crossing in Spinboldak, Afghanistan, Friday, March 12, 2004. Despite intense efforts by Pakistani, U.S. and Afghan military forces, Afghans insist that the border remains an open door for Taliban crossing into Afghanistan to carry out attacks.

Image Credit: Ed Wray -- AP

Hilferty also said U.S. forces are involved in what he described as a ``small scale air assault'' in southern Afghanistan, but would not give details about the location or the target.

The overall operation, dubbed ``Mountain Storm,'' officially began Sunday and was open-ended, Hilferty said. He said the entire 13,500-strong U.S.-led coalition was involved.

While bin Laden's whereabouts have been the subject of intense speculation, there has been no known hard evidence of his location - or even that he is alive - since shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Hilferty said the operation was in effect a continuation of tactics already being used, such as intensive patrolling, village searches and impromptu checkpoints.

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2004 © The Associated Press.

Dan