CRAWFORD, Dec 28: The commander of US troops in Afghanistan said on Friday that his helicopter was shot at last week while flying over Afghanistan.

“I have been told since I took that helicopter ride that someone took a shot at the helicopter. I didn’t see it when it happened and I believe it may have happened,” General Tommy Franks said at an appearance with President George W. Bush at his ranch.

“But then again, this is Afghanistan and we have pockets of Taliban still in that country and that’s one of the reasons that we’re going to stay there until we have mopped all that up.”

A spokesman for the US Central Command, which Franks leads, said the incident occurred on Dec 22 between Kabul and the Bagram air base, 50kms north of the capital. Franks was on his way to Kabul to attend the inauguration of Afghanistan’s interim government.

MYSTERIOUS ROCKETS: Unidentified men fired four rockets into Jalalabad, in eastern Afghanistan, on Thursday night, but caused no casualties.

The Afghan Islamic Press said the incident happened just hours before a United Nations team left Pakistan for Jalalabad to assess the security situation in eastern Afghanistan so it can resume its humanitarian operations in the region.

Two of the rockets landed in the southern military district of the capital city of Nangarhar province, AIP said. A hunt has been launched for the attackers, according to the agency.

The AIP said it was the first attack on an Afghan city since the collapse of the Taliban and was significant because US forces were still present in the province.

US special forces and their Afghan allies were continuing a clean-up operation in the Tora Bora mountain in the province after bombarding cave hideouts of the Taliban and the Al Qaeda.

UN FORCE: Contributors to the UN-sponsored force to help maintain order in Afghanistan met on Friday at a secret location in Britain to discuss details of the force’s composition and role.

The British ministry of defence confirmed the meeting but would divulge no further details, nor would it say which countries were participating.

Defence sources said it was hoped that the conference, being held at a location outside London, would decide the “nuts and bolts” of the force. The aim is to deploy a 6,000-strong force within the next few weeks.

Similar gatherings in Britain earlier this month included representatives of 16 nations. The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has been authorized by the UN Security Council.

Some 500 British military personnel are already in Kabul to prepare for the deployment of ISAF. —AFP / dpa