BAGRAM AIR BASE, March 10: US forces said on Sunday they had secured control over a former Al Qaeda stronghold in eastern Afghanistan after a deadly nine-day offensive and had pulled out 400 troops.

The exhausted soldiers, who had fought in the snowy hills for more than a week, arrived at Bagram Air Base north of Kabul saying they had inflicted a heavy toll on the holed-up extremists after initial heavy resistance.

US Major Brian Hilferty, a spokesman for the US-led coalition, said the forces had secured control over the Shahi Kot valley but that some Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters remained.

“Do you have every single bit of every place covered? No. ... But if I was an Al Qaeda guy, I would not be going out for pizza,” he said.

Hilferty said the forces had not come under sustained fire in the past 72 hours and that “this particular phase” of Operation Anaconda had been completed.

In Paktia province’s capital Gardez, residents said they had not heard any bombing on Sunday, despite clear weather that would be conducive to fighter planes.

“I’m not going to talk about the specifics of why we do anything, but it’s not like we are pulling out all the troops,” Hilferty said.

“We are repositioning forces but Anaconda continues.”

Operation Anaconda, named after the snake that encircles and surrounds its prey, has left dead eight US servicemen, the highest US toll since the military campaign in Afghanistan began on October 7.

Hilferty would not say whether more US troops were being deployed to replace the withdrawn soldiers or reveal the exact number of forces being pulled out on Sunday.

Some 950 US regular and special forces had initially been deployed on the ground for the massive mountain offensive. Washington said last week that hundreds of reinforcements had been sent.

Some 200 Australian, Canadian or European commandos are also on the ground, along with hundreds of Afghan fighters equipped by the United States. The Afghan interim government on Saturday sent 1,000 troops toward the frontline.

But Mohammad Ismael Khan, a commander in the Jaji region near the Pakistani border, said the local leaders had asked interim government head Hamid Karzai to send the Afghan troops home.

“We want to propose to Hamid Karzai that the troops who came in yesterday (Saturday) should be back in their barracks. Our troops are aware of the region and they have fought against the Taliban and Al Qaeda militants,” Ismael Khan told reporters. But he added: “We support what Karzai says. We will obey him.”

Most of the government troops are Tajiks affiliated with the Northern Alliance, which dominates the cabinet.—AFP