Allied troops battle al-Qaida, Taliban; search of caves goes on

GARDEZ, Afghanistan -- Advancing U.S. and coalition forces fought with small groups of al-Qaida and Taliban holdouts Tuesday as allied troops worked their way through the warren of mountain caves in eastern Afghanistan -- their progress slowed by mines and booby traps.

Throughout the day, high-flying U.S. B-1 bombers pounded al-Qaida and Taliban positions on a ridgeline that U.S. officers dubbed "the whale." The dull thud of distant detonations could be heard Tuesday night in Gardez, about 20 miles northeast of the front line.

As U.S. bombers flew overhead, Afghan fighters maneuvered tanks into position for what commanders said would be a final push to eradicate al-Qaida fighters. Afghan fighters loyal to commander Zia Lodin said they breached the first lines of al-Qaida and Taliban defenses Tuesday but were stopped by hostile fire and land mines.

Another commander, Abdul Matin Hasankhiel, predicted it would take several days for government forces to organize for a final push.

Advancing Afghan troops found the bodies of seven foreign fighters Tuesday, according to an Afghan commander, Abdul Hanan. He said he was not sure whether they were Arabs or Pakistanis.

U.S. CH-47 Chinook helicopters flew what appeared to be small tanks into the battle area of Operation Anaconda at the base of the snowcapped Shah-e-Kot mountains.

"We will continue combat operations in this area until we remove these parasites from Afghanistan," said Maj. Bryan Hilferty, spokesman for the 10th Mountain Division.

At the Pentagon, Air Force Brig. Gen. John Rosa said U.S. and allied Afghan forces battled small pockets of enemy fighters in the Shah-e-Kot area Tuesday. Rosa said U.S. strike aircraft had dropped more than 100 bombs since Monday, bringing the total to more than 2,500 bombs since the offensive began March 2.

Rosa also said U.S. troops had begun searching abandoned al-Qaida caves in the area. He said there were "upwards of 40" caves there and that there had been no additional American casualties.

A U.S. special forces delegation met Tuesday with members of the Gardez town council to enlist their help in preventing Taliban and al-Qaida fugitives from receiving food, supplies and shelter from sympathetic local Afghans.

The U.S. delegation also urged the council to convince residents to turn in Taliban or al-Qaida fighters who manage to escape the coalition onslaught in the Shah-e-Kot area, according to council chairman, Saifullah.

U.S. aircraft dropped leaflets with a similar message over five villages on the Pakistani side of the border, residents said. The Shah-e-Kot region contains hundreds of possible escape routes to Pakistan, and residents scoff at suggestions that all of them can be monitored or closed.

"We were asked by the local authorities not to give any shelter to al-Qaida or the Taliban, and we are committed not to give them shelter, because we don't want trouble in our area," said Khan Marjan Wazir, a village leader.

Despite U.S. efforts to prevent the remaining enemy forces to escape capture or death, some of the Afghan allies were considering offering the holdouts an opportunity to surrender or leave the area unharmed.

Afghans said the proposal was made by Gul Haider, commander of an Afghan government force sent here last week by interim Prime Minister Hamid Karzai.

Haider told local Afghan leaders he could guarantee a 10-day halt in the fighting if the al-Qaida and Taliban commander "is ready to join us or leave the area," according to the deputy police chief of Surmand, Ghulam Mohammed Farooq.

Haider could not be reached for comment, but several local officials confirmed that discussions about a peace overture were under way. Under Afghan tradition, once an offer is extended it would be unthinkable to renege on it.

U.S. officials rejected any suggestion that al-Qaida members would be allowed to go free.

"We have made it very clear that we are not going to halt things ... We are not going to stop the fighting to make any deals," said Lt. Col. Dave Lapan, a spokesman for the Pentagon in Washington.

Victoria Clarke, a spokeswoman for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, was less precise about U.S. intentions. "It depends on the individual," she said when reporters asked whether the United States would oppose allowing the holdouts to surrender and go free. "I don't know how many of them are farmers."

She added that it was "very, very unlikely we would want" al-Qaida fighters to go free.

"Our mission is to capture or kill all al-Qaida and Taliban leadership," she said in a written statement. "It is not in anyone's interest for al-Qaida or Taliban leadership to be permitted to go free." She added that the Afghan interim government was aware of the U.S. position and has been fully cooperative.

Her statement referred to the al-Qaida or Taliban leadership but said nothing about rank-and-file fighters.

As the ground fighting has subsided, hundreds of U.S. troops from the 10th Mountain Division and the 101st Airborne Division have rotated back to Bagram air base north of Kabul.

Rumsfeld said Monday that more than 800 U.S. soldiers were operating with a similar number of Afghan and other allied troops in the 60-square-mile battle zone.

Meanwhile, journalists staying at a hotel in Gardez left hastily on Tuesday after U.S. special forces warned they had received a credible threat that the hotel would be attacked.

Elsewhere, Karzai asked the Russian government for aid in rebuilding his country, shattered by decades of war since the 1979 Soviet invasion.

The international community has pledged $1.8 billion in aid this year and $4.5 billion in aid over the next five years to rebuild Afghanistan.