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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: maceng2 who wrote (45063)	9/18/2002 4:15:05 PM
From: maceng2	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

U.S. special forces struggle to find Afghan enemy myafghan.com KUNDUZ, Afghanistan (Reuters) - U.S. special forces scouring Afghanistan for remnants of the Taliban and al Qaeda network have the odds stacked heavily against them. Mounted on horseback, a small team of crack troops are aware that locals know they are coming well in advance. They are working in a foreign language, with people who by tradition offer shelter to fugitives. Suspected al Qaeda members, many not Afghans but Chechens, Uzbeks, Arabs or Pakistanis, are a valuable commodity to any local commander holding them. In six months of operations in northern Afghanistan, Sergeant Dick's 12-man Special Forces A-team has captured only six foreign-born militants. "We keep hearing reports they're here," says Jerry, an intelligence specialist, who like other special forces troops asked to be identified only by his first name. "Somalis, Chechens, Arabs. Can't find 'em." Dick, a weapons specialist with a full beard and wearing a bandana, rides the lead horse as his team enters the dusty northeastern city of Kunduz. Known to his colleagues as "Bones", he carries an M4 rifle on the back of his saddle. Under his camouflage fatigues he wears a flak jacket with armour plates. His pockets are stuffed with hand grenades, and he has a 9 mm pistol strapped to his leg. The banter with children, who run from their mud-walled homes when they see the convoy arrive, is friendly enough. "Thank you," one child calls out. "You're welcome, buddy," Dick says. "You're plumb welcome." While willing to exchange small-talk, he is ready for trouble. "Down on the end of this lane, they know the Americans are on the way." MANY FUGITIVES The number of fugitive Taliban and al Qaeda fighters is a mystery. After the hardline Islamic Taliban regime fell late last year hundreds in the north surrendered to U.S.-backed Northern Alliance forces before being put in prison. Hundreds more are believed to have been killed in the fighting around the northern cities of Kunduz and Takhar. Others fled south to the capital Kabul and east into neighbouring Pakistan, and some just blended without trace into the local populations in villages and towns. "The (northern) area has never been cleared," says Captain Don Ray, who commands the Special Forces A-team based in Kunduz. "After the Taliban fled, no one went back to check the villages. As long as one cell can continue to operate and rise up, we're going to need to keep working." MANY OBSTACLES A key ally in hunting down Taliban and al Qaeda agents are the local militia forces, soldiers who have at least some form of allegiance to the central government in Kabul. But in some cases these forces themselves are suspected by U.S. troops of aiding and abetting the enemy. Stories of al Qaeda operatives paying large sums of money to spirit their people out of Afghanistan in the early months of the war are now repeated by local Afghans in the north. General Dawood Khan, who directed Afghan forces against the Taliban in Kunduz late last year, dismissed the notion that his men were ransoming fugitives. "I trust my men," Dawood said. "We have some people in country who care about their country, and they won't think about the money. I am sure about my soldiers." Dawood's assurances don't satisfy the U.S. soldiers in Kunduz, who are frustrated by what they see as a lack of cooperation on the general's part. They cite several instances, including the time they visited a Northern Alliance prison in Dejeez near the Tajikistan border, when Dawood denied them permission to take one inmate away for questioning unless they took all 109 prisoners. Dawood then denied them permission to search a compound where a nephew of fugitive anti-American hardliner Gulbuddin Hekmatyar was said to be staying. NEW GREAT GAME? U.S. special forces troops in Kunduz may be just one of many voices whispering in Dawood's ear. They report seeing Iranian jets land at the airstrip in Kunduz, and note that Dawood's men wear Iranian uniforms. The commander denied he drew any support from Iran, but he freely admitted that his bodyguards were trained by French paramilitaries, who appear not to be operating under the umbrella of the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan. Russian military technicians have also visited Kunduz as well, according to Dawood, to inspect and repair equipment. As outside powers jockey for position in post-Taliban Afghanistan, special forces troops wonder if they are a part of a new "Great Game" in Central Asia. The phrase has been used to describe the strategic clash over Afghanistan in the 19th century between Russia and Britain, with both powers seeking to secure routes into India. For its part, the U.S. military plans to increase numbers of troops in northern Afghanistan and take control of Kunduz airport, according to special forces soldiers. But for Sergeant Dick and his team, the task is less grandiose. "We're not here to conquer the country," he said. "We want to get bad guys. A lot of people up here want to work their own deal. But we are here to do a noble thing." - Article submitted at 1:09 PM (CST) on 9/18/2002