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17 April 2004
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Saturday
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26 Safar 1425
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US likely to launch fresh offensive in Afghanistan
KABUL, April 16: US marines are poised to launch a fresh campaign against Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, a US military official said on Friday, as top general Richard Myers visited Kabul for talks on the hunt for Osama bin Laden.
"They're starting right now. They're going to go hot pretty quick," an Afghanistan-based US military official, who asked not to be named, told reporters travelling with Gen Myers, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.
"They're coming here so we can have some search forces to clean up these areas in the south." The 2,000 marines, who have been deploying since last month to boost the already 13,000-strong US-led military coalition, will be tasked with flushing out fighters in the Taliban strongholds of central Uruzgan province and its southern neighbour Kandahar.
Gen Myers, who travelled to Kabul from Iraq for a brief one-day visit, will meet the commander of US forces in Afghanistan Lt Gen Daivd Barno and hold talks with US ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad.
After arriving on Friday Gen Myers praised Pakistan's stepped-up efforts to eradicate Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters from its tribal regions bordering Afghanistan.
"My understanding is they are going to remain committed to activities in the tribal areas and to try to help with this problem," he said. Gen Myers said the Pakistanis were planning further raids, after some 300 fighters escaped an offensive last month in the tribal region of South Waziristan.
"There will be ongoing operations. We'll probably see them do that, and then regroup and do it again." So far, no large groups of Taliban or Al Qaeda fighters have been found moving across the border from the Pakistani tribal areas.
US and Pakistani forces had "very good coordination back and forth" across the border, Gen Myers added. Gen Barno, who in January outlined a plan by US and Pakistani troops to create "hammer and anvil" scenario on either side of the border to squeeze Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters, also hailed Pakistan's commitment to pursuing the militants.
The United States was sharing "real-time intelligence" with the Pakistanis to assist them identifying the locations or presence of foreign fighters, he said. -AFP
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