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  Coalition in Afghanistan Wraps Up Mountain Blizzard American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, March 13, 2004 -- Operation Mountain Blizzard has successfully ended in Afghanistan, and Operation Mountain Storm has begun, coalition officials in the Afghan capital of Kabul announced in a news release today. In the two months of Mountain Blizzard, the coalition conducted 1,731 patrols and 143 raids and cordon-and-search operations. They killed 22 enemy combatants and discovered caches with 3,648 rockets, 3,202 mortar rounds, 2,944 rocket- propelled grenades, 3,000 rifle rounds, 2,232 mines and tens of thousands of rounds of small-arms ammunition, the news release said....

<p>WASHINGTON — The U.S. military has launched a new offensive in Afghanistan (search) called "Operation Mountain Storm" aimed at rooting out elements of the Taliban and Al Qaeda, Pentagon officials said Friday.</p> <p>Though Mountain Storm is a new operation, it is also a continuation of a series of efforts that began last summer and fall. Those operations, including one called Mountain Resolve, aimed to drive terrorist elements out of the south of Afghanistan and some areas of the north, and back toward the border with Pakistan (search).</p>

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - The U.S. military on Saturday announced a sweeping new operation across troubled southern and eastern Afghanistan, with the aim of destroying al-Qaida and the Taliban and ultimately reeling in Osama bin Laden. The offensive comes as Americans step up their hunt for the al-Qaida leader and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, who are believed to be hiding out in the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan. "We believe this will help bring the heads of the terrorist organizations to justice, by continuing placing pressure on them," said Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, a U.S. military spokesman. The...

Pentagon officials have described their planned spring offensive against Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters as a "hammer and an anvil." The description suggests part of the operation will be aimed at capturing or killing Islamic militants along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, while other troops block their escape routes through the mountains. Kandahar, Afghanistan; 12 March 2004 (RFE/RL) -- According to some reports, the spring offensive in Afghanistan by U.S. forces will be the largest since Operation Anaconda two years ago near the southeastern border with Pakistan. "Our goal also is to defeat the Taliban if it decides to confront us, which it...

They just did an Alert and went to the DOD where Brett Bair announed the spring offenseive for OBL along the BORDER has just started

Wednesday, March 10, 2004 Troops in Afghanistan preparing spring offensive in pursuit of insurgents By Terry Boyd, Stars and StripesEuropean edition, Wednesday, March 10, 2004 Terry Boyd / S&S Spc. Scott Parker, left, stands next to just a small part of the rockets and mortars found inside an Afghan militia compound near the U.S. camp Firebase Purgatory in Afghanistan. Parker and another explosives expert are tracking the weapons. Terry Boyd / S&S Need a howitzer, mortar or rifle? They're all here at the Afghan militia compound near Firebase Purgatory. (Day 4 of a four-day Stars and Stripes series, "Afghanistan: Silent...

Troops move towards Angoor FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT WANA (South Waziristan Agency)—Pakistan Army Friday started extra-ordinary activities in various parts of South Waziristan Agency after the US and Afghan troops launched a joint operation against suspected al-Qaeda and other extremists in South Waziristan’s and the adjacent areas of Khost, Paktya, Zabul and other provinces bordering Pakistan. Army troops in their attempt to get the targeted goals in the renewed operation have banned the use of vehicles with tinted glasses and are engaged in removing the tinted glasses of vehicles in various parts of the agency. Hundreds of troops have also been...

Osama bin Laden is still in Afghanistan and is planning further attacks on American interests, a spokesman from Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime said. A man identifying himself as Taliban spokesman Mohammed Saiful Adel said yesterday that Bin Laden's presence in Afghanistan was confirmed in a leaflet distributed to Taliban leaders in the south of the country. The statement, read to AFP by Adel via satellite phone from the south of the country, rubbishes claims by the US military that they are confident of capturing the al-Qaeda leader by the end of the year. "The untrue and false propaganda that the...

Taliban warn of wave of attacks KHOST, Afghanistan: The Taliban would stage a new wave of attacks against US-led coalition forces in the south and southeast of the country this Spring, a man claiming to be their representative told AFP on Friday. In an interview here, the man, who has previously proved himself a credible source of information, also claimed that Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar, were both alive and in Afghanistan. Osama and his deputy, Ayman Al-Zawahiri "are alive and both are in Afghanistan, in different places", Mohammed Saiful Adel told an AFP journalist in an interview. The...

Afghan, Pakistani, US forces set for spring offensive * Authorities tighten noose around ‘foreign terrorists’ in Wana By Amir Rana and Iqbal Khattak LAHORE: Pakistani, US and Afghan forces are planning a major military operation inside Pakistan along its border with Afghanistan, against Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters by the end of the spring. Military officials from all three countries will meet in Islamabad late April to finalize the plan, sources told Daily Times on Friday. “The Pakistani military is carrying small operations in tandem with US forces to apprehend or neutralize Qaeda operatives hiding in Pakistan’s tribal areas”, sources...

KABUL, : Gearing up for the 'final' battle against US-led forces in Afghanistan, Taliban is regrouping in the Khyber Agency region of Pakistan for the crucial offensive to be mounted in spring under a new commander Mullah Sabir Momin of Orugzan province to recapture major cities, media reports said. "The resistance under a new commander is regrouping in the remote Khyber Agency region of Pakistan, using the infrastructure of people and fortifications laid by Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda several years ago," Hong Kong-based Asia Times online said in a report. Pakistan has aided some commanders belonging to the Hizb-i-Islami...

THE ROVING EYE IRAQ AND AL-QAEDA Part 2: Why al-Qaeda votes Bush By Pepe Escobar (Part 1: The usual suspects) Sheikh Terror are the new underground sensation in ever-swingin' London. Their rap video called "The Dirty Infidels" has been sent by e-mail to the Arab-language newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat. The paper says the video - unlikely to end up on MTV - may have been produced in a London studio by young, radical Muslims, but mosque talk in London and northern England has attributed it to ... al-Qaeda. Sheikh Terror rap in favor of the "fight against the infidels", praise Osama...

NEW DELHI : Gearing up for the "final" battle against US-led forces in Afghanistan, Taliban was regrouping in the Khyber Agency region of Pakistan for the crucial offensive to be mounted in spring under a new commander to recapture major cities, media reports said. "The resistance under a new commander is regrouping in the remote Khyber Agency region of Pakistan, using the infrastructure of people and fortifications laid by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda several years ago," Hong Kong-based Asia Times online said in a report. Quoting Taliban sources, it said the new commander for the proposed "spring offensive" would be...

Despite the ceasefire in Kashmir, some of the more militant rebel groups continued to fight. But they are having a hard time of it because the police are concentrating on those areas where they know the more militant groups operate. For example, today police caught two groups of rebels near the Pakistan border and killed 12 of them, including five known rebel leaders. Pakistan has arrested a tribal leader, Khan Muhammad Deen, as a suspect in the assassination attempts on president Musharraf. Deen was known for his support of Islamic radicals. Meanwhile, Pakistan has obtained some cooperation from the tribes...

Pakistan Warns U.S. About Crossing Border By MUNIR AHMAD The Associated Press Friday, January 30, 2004; 4:12 PM ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A hard-line Islamic coalition warned Friday that Pakistani tribesmen might open fire on American troops if the United States extends a planned spring offensive against Afghan rebels into Pakistan.

By: AFP Chicago: The Pentagon has drawn up contingency plans for a military strike inside Pakistan at Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, The Chicago Tribune newspaper reported today citing military sources. The daily said the offensive could occur this year but the timing "would be driven by events in the region." The plan calls for the use of Special Operations forces, Army Rangers and Army ground troops, and the deployment of a Navy aircraft carrier to the Arabian Sea, according to military sources. It would involve thousands of US troops, many of them drawn from US forces already on the...

Pakistani hard-liners warn that tribesmen would fire on U.S. forces if their operations extend across border ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- A hardline Islamic coalition warned on Friday that tribesmen might fire on U.S. forces if a planned "spring offensive" against terror suspects extended into Pakistan. Riaz Durrani, spokesman for the opposition coalition Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal, which controls two Pakistani provinces bordering Afghanistan, said any move by Washington to deploy forces there would be a "historic mistake." A U.S. official in Washington hinted this week that a planned effort to step up the hunt for Taliban or al-Qaida fugitives at the...

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration, deeply concerned about recent assassination attempts against Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and a resurgence of Taliban forces in neighboring Afghanistan, is preparing a U.S. military offensive that would reach inside Pakistan with the goal of destroying Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network, military sources said. U.S. Central Command is assembling a team of military intelligence officers that would be posted in Pakistan ahead of the operation, according to sources familiar with details of the plan and internal military communications. The sources spoke on the condition they not be identified. As now envisioned, the offensive would...

Should the U.S. launch an offensive into Pakistan to seek and destroy Osama bin Laden and the Al Qaeda network?

ISLAMABAD - As the Taliban prepare for a crucial phase of their struggle against foreign troops in Afghanistan, a prelude for the final "spring offensive", the resistance movement has lost its support from Pakistan's establishment, under pressure from the United States. The resistance, meanwhile, under a new commander, is regrouping in the remote Khyber Agency region of Pakistan, using the infrastructure of people and fortifications laid by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda several years ago. Asia Times Online has learned from insiders within the security administration of President General Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad that strategists have bowed to pressure from Washington,...