American troops have launched a major military operation in southern Afghanistan, said to be one of the largest in over a year.
Soldiers from the army’s 82nd Airborne Division are being used in the assault near the city of Kandahar, where they are believed to be looking for members of the al-Qaeda network.
Thousands of US troops are searching for Osama bin Laden and members of his terror network in Afghanistan and across the border in Pakistan.
They are also looking for members of the former Taleban regime, which was based in Kandahar.
‘Offensive operations’
“The White Devils of Coalition Task Force 82 began Operation Valiant Strike with an air assault at 6 am this morning (0130 GMT),” the US military said in a statement issued at the Bagram air base in Afghanistan.
“Valiant Strike will consist of offensive operations south east of Kandahar.”
According to the Reuters news agency, a military spokesman said the operation was not timed to coincide with the US strike on Iraq.
Raids on suspected al-Qaeda hideouts in both Afghanistan and Pakistan have increased in recent weeks following the capture of one of the network’s key figures.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was arrested in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi earlier this month.
He is suspected of being the mastermind behind the 11 September attacks, and is now in US custody.
hey the hunt is good, people like these are not good for any country. its as much in Pakistan's interest to have these psychos gathered and locked up as in US interests.
These folks can really hurt Pakistan's interests by igniting sectarian violence, and targetting forigeners and multinationals etc to impact Pakistan's programs with other countries and investments by foriegn companies.
It may take long, and may not be a complete success but much better than not doing anything and letting these guys regroup freely.
And could you kindly define what precisely Pakistan's interest is????
The people who are being subject to arrests are subect to the whims and caprice of the US Army and just think who could be next on their target as a sponsor of terrorism! We should be apprehensive of what they are doing as they are in the habit of dumping old allies and terming them as sponsors of terrorism.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Fraudz: *
hey the hunt is good, people like these are not good for any country. its as much in Pakistan's interest to have these psychos gathered and locked up as in US interests.
These folks can really hurt Pakistan's interests by igniting sectarian violence, and targetting forigeners and multinationals etc to impact Pakistan's programs with other countries and investments by foriegn companies.
It may take long, and may not be a complete success but much better than not doing anything and letting these guys regroup freely.
[/QUOTE]
Originally posted by Rbee: *
**And could you kindly define what precisely Pakistan's interest is???? *
I did define a few, u just rushed by them.
1) sectarian violence prevention, you do realize that groups liek sipah e sahaba and lashkar e jhangwi are real fans of these clowns. Those are the same ppl killing shias and other minorities in Pkaistan. Its in Pakistan's interest to prevent its people being targets of sectarian violence. additionally if that polarizes world opinion against pakistan due to the violence against minorities, it will be the same people and their pals clamoring for support among the masses with an "us against them" sort of banner.
2) targetting of foriegn nationals. what happened to the french engineers bus a few months ago is an example. affects trade, investment, research..and has far reaching impacts
*We should be apprehensive of what they are doing as they are in the habit of dumping old allies and terming them as sponsors of terrorism.
*
indeed, so are you suggesting that the govt lift the ban on extremist sectarian groups like sipah e sahaba and sipah e muhammad and lashkar e jhangvi so they can operatre freely? is that a whim too?
