Well it didn’t take that long for Mr. Saddam and Airfart to hide in there private caves (at least Mr. Binhiding fought for some weeks with the help of Taliban). There is no sign of the Iraqi army or the Arab warriors in Palestine, though the Taliban are back in the hood. Sometimes I wonder, what drives these Afghans?
QUETTA: Suspected Taliban militiamen have occupied the Chopan district in Zabul
province in southeastern Afghanistan near the Pak-Afghan border, sources said
on Saturday.
Reports from Kandahar said at least 10 suspected Taliban fighters and three
Afghan army regulars were killed in clashes between the two sides during the
last few days. Sources in Kandahar said the administration had dispatched
reinforcements of about 200 men to the area to flush out the Taliban from the
district. The residents of Kandahar told journalists in Spin Boldak that the
death toll was much higher than reported.
Suspected Taliban arrested: US and Afghan forces have arrested several
suspected members of the Taliban near the southern border town of Spin Boldak.
Administrator Spin Boldak Haji Fazal Din Agha told Daily Times that US and
Afghan forces had started a major house-to-house search operation in Loye
Karaiz and Kasai areas of the town. He refused to speculate on how many people
were arrested but said “a large number of suspected Taliban” were in custody.
Mr Agha said American military hospitals were assisting in the joint operations
and efforts were underway to arrest all suspected individuals.
Eyewitnesses said American and Afghan forces were carrying pictures of Mullah
Akhtar Usmani, Mullah Dadullah, Hafiz Abdur Rahim, among others, and asking
local people about their whereabouts.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_27-4-2003_pg7_8
Taliban refine guerrilla tactics
By Ramtanu Maitra
On April 20, United States Special Representative to Afghanistan and
Washington’s man-Friday in the region, Zalmay Khalilzad, made clear that the US
wanted good relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and that "the new
Afghanistan’s stability is in America’s interest … " Without naming Pakistan,
Khalilzad warned Islamabad, saying “any effort that undermines that stability,
that threatens it, is a challenge to America’s interests”.
Khalilzad’s admonition follows growing allegations of the Pakistan army’s
direct involvement on behalf of Taliban remnants flexing their muscles in
eastern and southern Afghanistan to unseat the US-backed Hamid Karzai regime in
Kabul. With the approach of warmer weather, it is expected that the rebels will
become more active, challenging the weak system over which Karzai presides.
Recent reports from the Taliban-infested areas in Afghanistan indicate that
this has already begun. Clashes between the rebels and the International
Security Assistance Forces (ISAF), US Special Forces and Afghan government
forces are happening daily. Bombs are exploding daily in and around Kabul,
Kandahar, Khost, Jalalabad and other eastern Afghan cities bordering Pakistan,
and grenade and rocket attacks on US bases in eastern and southern Afghanistan
are reported regularly.
Since the US-led campaign in Afghanistan began in November 2001, there were
indications that the Taliban rebels and al-Qaeda were taking shelter within
Pakistan along the difficult terrain of the border areas. US Special Forces
carried out raids, along with Pakistani regulars, to smoke out the rebels.
These operations met with limited success, and all available information
suggests the rebels and terrorists are very much there now. With the advent of
spring, these rebels are now making forays into the Afghan cities, causing
disruption and spreading fear…–> http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/ED26Ag01.html