Operation Mountain Storm is about much more than one person

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US launches new Afghan operation

By Crispin Thorold
BBC correspondent in Kabul

The US-led coalition in Afghanistan says it has launched a new operation in an attempt to find members of al-Qaeda and the Taleban.
A US military spokesman believes that Operation Mountain Storm will help capture what he described as the heads of the terrorist organisations.

The operation is the latest in a series of military actions in Afghanistan.

The operation, which began last Sunday, aims to help high-ranking terrorists to justice.

Lieutenant-Colonel Brian Hilferty, the spokesman for the coalition, said it involves patrols, searches and small scale assaults across the country's south and east.

In January, the coalition's commander argued that Osama Bin Laden would be caught within the year, but in the words of Lieutenant-Colonel Hilferty, Operation Mountain Storm is about much more than one person.

It is designed to keep pressure on what he described as the terrorist infrastructure. Pakistani forces have been pursuing members of al-Qaeda and the Taleban in the tribal areas that border Afghanistan for several weeks.

The US-led coalition is working in co-operation with the Pakistanis in what it says is a hammer and anvil strategy - to capture any militants that flee across the border.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/south_asia/3507896.stm

Published: 2004/03/13 13:02:18 GMT

[Trident-za]

Any reports on whether the Op has been successful so far? Have they captured anyone important?

[cut]

I think it has only started in ernest today.

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U.S. begins operation "Mountain Storm" in Afghanistan

March 13, 2004

BY STEPHEN GRAHAM ASSOCIATED PRESS Advertisement



KABUL, Afghanistan -- 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 operation, however, was "about more than one person," he said. Hilferty said American forces were confident they will eventually catch the al-Qaida leadership as well as Taliban chief Mullah Mohammed Omar, but not necessarily during the new operation.

Hilferty also said U.S. forces are involved in what he described as a "small scale air assault" in southern Afghanistan, but would not give details about the location or the target.

A senior Afghan army commander in southern Kandahar province, Haji Granai, told The Associated Press that U.S. aircraft attacked a pickup truck carrying 12 suspected Taliban in Kandahar province on Thursday, killing them all. Granai said the American planes swooped down on the truck near Sami Ghar in Maruf district, some 160 miles east of Kandahar city. Suspected Taliban militants killed seven Afghan soldiers in a raid on a border post in Maruf on Mar. 3.

The U.S. military had no immediate comment.

The overall operation, dubbed "Mountain Storm," officially began Sunday and was open-ended, Hilferty said. He said the entire 13,500-strong U.S.-led coalition was involved.

While bin Laden's whereabouts have been the subject of intense speculation, there has been no known hard evidence of his location-- or even that he is alive-- since shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Hilferty said the operation was in effect a continuation of tactics already being used, such as intensive patrolling, village searches and impromptu checkpoints.

He declined to give specifics, but an Associated Press reporter at the military's main southern base at Kandahar noted what base personnel said was heavier than usual air traffic, with C-130 cargo planes and Chinook helicopters landing through the night.

The base also served a lobster and steak dinner on the eve of the new operation. The army traditionally serves special meals to kick off large offensives.

Lt. Gen. David Barno, the top American commander in Afghanistan, has said his soldiers are engaged in a "hammer-and-anvil" strategy along with Pakistani forces on the other side of the border.

Some 70,000 Pakistani troops have moved into semiautonomous tribal regions to take away maneuver room for al-Qaida and Taliban fugitives believed to have taken refuge there.

A Feb. 24 operation in Wana, the main town in Pakistan's South Waziristan region, netted 24 suspects, but none were believed to be important al-Qaida operatives.

Pakistan, a key ally in the U.S. war on terrorism, has arrested more than 500 al-Qaida suspects. But Afghans also say they have not done enough to seal the border, and complain that Taliban commanders have been organizing operations from large Pakistani border towns like Quetta and Peshawar.

On Saturday, tribal elders in South Waziristan imposed a 24-hour deadline on a tribe accused of sheltering terrorists to hand over the fugitives or expect an armed force of 600 men to search the area forcibly.

A Pakistani military spokesman, Gen. Shaukat Sultan, would not comment on the new U.S. operation or say whether Pakistani troops were involved in fresh deployments on their side of the border.

Hilferty played down suggestions by defense officials in Washington that the military was embarking on a "spring offensive."

"If it continues past March 21, I assume it will be a spring operation," Hilferty said. "But spring offensive is what they media have been calling for, not us."

The military offensive also is supposed to safeguard landmark Afghan elections slated for June, when U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai is expected to secure a new term.

More than 140 people have died in violence already this year, underlining security fears ahead of the vote.

Much of the south and east of the country remains off-limits to international aid groups, and local officials complain their forces are unable to deal with the Taliban threat without more help from the Americans and the central government.

Hilferty said the previous two-month U.S. operation, called Blizzard and including 143 raids and searches, had resulted in the death of 22 "enemy combatants." No U.S. soldiers were killed in combat during the period, he said, though a number died in accidents.

[Seoulstriker]

i posted on this yesterday.

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=10276

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So what do you think?

[Seoulstriker]

So what do you think?


i remain optimistic that we'll get the leadership. i wish i could hear of some detail of where intelligence is pinning bin laden et al. if he is indeed in that area, i am confident that our guys will get him.

[usa320]

ASSKICKING TIME

:fork: :fork: :fork: :fork:

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let's hope so

[Merik]

I've been thinking ever since last month, when the media was reporting that we think we know where bin laden kinda is, is that the Army already has bin Laden but Bush is waiting until election month to show his head on a platter. Doesnt matter to me, I just want to see his head paraded through the streets of New York.

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the earlier they get him the better, it has already been 2 and a half years

[Merik]

the earlier they get him the better, it has already been 2 and a half years

No its been almost 9 years. Remember Clinton never had him taken out when he had the chance after the first WTC bombing, the Embassy bombings, and the USS Cole(or was that under Bush?).

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He's hard enough to get now when we have troops all over afghanistan, no-one could justify that expenditure before 9/11. Things look very different in hindsight.

[Merik]

He's hard enough to get now when we have troops all over afghanistan, no-one could justify that expenditure before 9/11. Things look very different in hindsight.

True. I hate to say this but in the end, you cant always hunt one man and come out victorious.

[usa320]

no-one could justify that expenditure before 9/11

Try telling that to the families of the people Killed in the Khobar towers, the USS Cole, the WTC in 93...

There was justification to spend the money, and there were even plans drafted that would have netted him. UNfortunately it wasnt justified to the Clinton ADministration. Being the ignorant fools and fags they were.

[cut]

no-one could justify that expenditure before 9/11

Try telling that to the families of the people Killed in the Khobar towers, the USS Cole, the WTC in 93...



I would tell them!

The loss of their son's or daughters was tragic but I'm not going to tell another 500 parents, your sons and daughters are dead because we had to take revenge for those other families. oh and also we owe **** loads of money too.

Where as 9/11 gave both are good enough reason and the necessity

[Gordon]

no-one could justify that expenditure before 9/11

Try telling that to the families of the people Killed in the Khobar towers, the USS Cole, the WTC in 93...

There was justification to spend the money, and there were even plans drafted that would have netted him. UNfortunately it wasnt justified to the Clinton ADministration. Being the ignorant fools and fags they were.

You know of any plans the Bush administration had to capture Osama Bin Laden before the 9/11 attacks?

edit - 'or any plans to combat the threat of terrorism as a whole before said attacks?'