With Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders and their military strength now believed to be concentrated in western Pakistan, British troops have deployed along a key section of the Afghan border to block transit between the two nations, U.S. and British military officials said Wednesday.
About 300 British soldiers have begun an effort “to interdict Al Qaeda and Taliban and infiltration routes and safe havens, to deny their freedom of maneuver, deny them sanctuary and gather intelligence,” Maj. Bryan Hilferty, a U.S. military spokesman said at the coalition air base north of Kabul.
The push to the east of Khost, in a region the `military considers the hottest remaining enemy enclave in Afghanistan, is expected to last for at least several weeks and involve up to 700 British soldiers at a time.
Dubbed Operation Buzzard, the deployment is part of a larger effort not just to put renewed pressure on Al Qaeda and Taliban as the groups reportedly attempt to rebuild, but also to tighten security before Afghanistan’s approaching national elections, scheduled for early June.
Coalition military officials have expressed concern in recent days that the Taliban or Al Qaeda may try to arrange some spectacular disruption of the election council meeting in Kabul in an effort to draw attention and discredit Afghanistan’s new government.
`A high-value target’
The loya jirga “is a high-value target,” said U.S. Col. Wayland Parker, the liaison between the U.S. military and coalition forces in Afghanistan. “If somebody wants to destabilize the country, this is a prime target.”
The new military operation, which will involve patrols on foot, in land vehicles and helicopters, will focus more intensely on populated areas than past efforts. Of particular interest are a series of border crossings east of Khost believed to be favored by enemy fighters.
“The key point is being unpredictable, operating overtly and covertly to introduce doubts in the minds of Al Qaeda and Taliban,” said Lt. Col Ben Curry, a British spokesman.
The move comes as U.S. officials express fears of Pakistan–embroiled in a deepening conflict with India–transferring troops now guarding the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, including those in the semi-autonomous tribal areas, to the Kashmir front.
The new British operation may be intended in part to shore up the border or to squeeze enemy fighters between coalition and Pakistani troops, military analysts said.
Afghan and coalition military officials have struggled since last year to control the lengthy and rugged Afghan-Pakistan border. Top Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders, particularly Mullah Mohammed Omar and Osama bin Laden, are thought to have slipped over the line, and coalition forces now hope to block key transit points to contain enemy fighters and block guerrilla operations.
Former Taliban officials boasted recently that their militants cannot be stopped from crossing the Afghan-Pakistan border and that Omar is rebuilding the organization in the semi-autonomous tribal areas of western Pakistan, in close contact with those fighters still in Afghanistan.
While U.S. military officials concede the fight against Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan has quieted significantly since March, with the enemy reduced primarily to launching small guerrilla attacks, the officials say the coalition is not planning a scale-back of its efforts in Afghanistan–despite recent suggestions to that effect by a top British commander.
“The war is far from over,” Hilferty said Wednesday, comparing efforts to clean out Taliban and Al Qaeda to spraying for cockroaches. “Because you’ve flushed them out doesn’t mean they won’t be back.”
The British-led operation comes as Lt. Gen. Dan McNeill prepares to take control of U.S. military forces in Afghanistan on Friday, succeeding Maj. Gen. Franklin Hagenbeck, his subordinate who has led operations for the past six months.
Computer command unveiled
McNeill on Wednesday unveiled a new high-tech computer command center at Bagram that is designed to allow military officials at remote command centers around the world to share real-time information on battle movements, intelligence and troop status via a military Web site and chat room.
Computer experts said they are still testing the system in the hot, dusty conditions of Afghanistan but so far had not had major technical failures, or problems with hackers or viruses. Still, they are keeping a map and radios on hand.
“A computer with a bullet hole is a paperweight, but a map with a bullet hole is still a map,” said Maj. Keith Hauk, who introduced himself as a “knowledge management” officer working in the new center.
