GARDEZ, March 5: The governor of Afghanistan’s eastern Paktia province said Tuesday that US forces had miscalculated the strength of Al Qaeda fighters in the mountains here.

Governor Taj Mohammad Wardak, who said he had been briefed by US forces, predicted the operation would take longer than expected.

He alleged the Al Qaeda forces holed up in the Arma mountains were receiving fresh supplies of men and equipment from supporters in tribal areas of Pakistan.

“The Americans were underestimating them. They believed that there were not that many people and they did not realise how well they were supplied,” Wardak said.

“The war is going in favour of the Afghan-American forces, but it is not totally under control because the enemy is receiving a lot of supplies from various places, including Pakistani areas that are not totally under the control of the Pakistani government,” he alleged.

Wardak said that while the Al Qaeda “resistance is quite strong”, he was sure the guerillas were suffering heavy casualties.

He said Al Qaeda forces also were receiving supplies from sympathetic Afghans in Paktia villages.

He referred specifically to Zurmat village, where a Canadian journalist was wounded in an attack on Monday.

Wardak called Zurmat a “logistics route” for Al Qaeda forces, and said US forces had detained local military commander Naim Faruki.

“He’s under interrogation over whether he’s an Al Qaeda or Taliban sympathiser,” Wardak said. Some people in the area “are supporting Al Qaeda and we are trying to ensure that they are not capable of doing so,” he said.—AFP