Americans hunt in vain for men of al-Qaeda

The Times
March 14, 2002
From Catherine Philp in Shah-e-kot

AMERICAN and Afghan forces claimed a decisive victory yesterday as they swept into the last known mountain stronghold of al-Qaeda.

The absence, however, of any significant resistance or sign of the enemy, dead or alive, raised suspicions that many fighters had escaped before the offensive had begun.

Afghan commanders had been gearing up for a final push against hundreds of diehard fighters in the mountains. In the end, troops walked unhindered into the empty valley. Along with several hundred other fighters thought to have been left in the mountains, the Americans seem to have let slip one key quarry, the enemy commander Saif Rahman.

In Shahi-Kot village, where 200 fighters had been based when the fighting began, only two dozen bodies were found, buried under the rubble of several bombed-out buildings. A spokesman said later that US forces were holding 20 prisoners in the village.

It was unclear whether other surviving fighters had fled the area and been killed elsewhere or were in any of the dozens of caves that line the valley. "I think we got a lot of them, but we're not really sure," a special forces soldier said.

Scores of American troops and special forces were flown into the area by helicopter after the Afghan forces to search for remaining fighters and prevent any more from fleeing.

Few of the mountain caves have been checked because of the booby traps and landmines left behind by fleeing al-Qaeda fighters. Fakir Shah, an Afghan soldier, said that he narrowly missed injury when he cut a tripwire in front of a cave that he was checking for fighters.

US commanders said that most of the dead were Arab and Chechen fighters who formed the backbone of al-Qaeda. "They had been building this place and this defence for years," Colonel Frank Wiercinski, brigade commander of the 101st Airborne Division, said. "We definitely put a spike through their heart."

Operation Anaconda was the first battle in the five-month war in which conventional US troops have played a big role. Yet Afghan fighters led the final push into the mountains, to be joined by their US colleagues after they had swept the area. With most Afghan troops withdrawing, it falls to the Americans to hunt down militants still in the area.

President Bush said last night that he still did not know whether Osama bin Laden was alive or dead. "I know the man's on the run, if he's alive at all. And who knows if he's hiding in some cave or not. We haven't heard from him in a long time," he said. "Terror is bigger than one person. I don't know where he is. I just don't spend that much time on it, really, to be honest with you."

He added: "I believe this war is more akin to World War Two than it is to Vietnam. This is a war in which we fight for the liberties and freedom of our country."

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