-Caveat Lector- http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-633185.php
WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! Ground forces prepare to root Taliban from caves By Matt Kelley Associated Press U.S. ground forces and air power are being assembled to dislodge Taliban and al-Qaida leaders from caves, tunnels and other fortified hide-outs in Afghanistan. While the American commander, Army Gen. Tommy Franks, has made no decision yet on the use of ground troops, it is clear he will move U.S. forces closer to key targets in Afghanistan in case anti-Taliban forces cannot finish the job. Meanwhile, fighting for control of the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar continued outside the southern city Friday and opposition forces reported they captured 80 Taliban soldiers. “Clearly, there’s a lot going on there,” Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said Friday. She said, however, that Marines on a makeshift base 70 miles south of Kandahar have not moved to join the fighting. And it was possible that U.S. bombing support for the fighting could be hampered Friday because of heavy cloud cover over Afghanistan, she said. U.S. special operations forces are working with opposition commanders in the south in an effort to improve the coordination of their attacks, which so far have made little progress against the Taliban in Kandahar, officials said Thursday. Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem said the Taliban military is now fractured, with little capability to coordinate or communicate. While some are fleeing or laying down their arms, others are digging in for a long fight, he said. The southern opposition groups are in active negotiations with the Taliban for control of Kandahar, he said. If Kandahar falls, as appears likely, Franks will have further limited the territory on which Osama bin Laden, his No. 1 prey, can hide. Franks will have more options for intensifying the search in the cave complexes near Jalalabad, in eastern Afghanistan, where some believe bin Laden is holed up. About 1,000 Marines are based at a remote airfield south of Kandahar. Nearly 100 regular Army troops from the 10th Mountain Division have moved into northern Afghanistan. About two dozen 10th Mountain soldiers are posted at an airfield near Mazar-e-Sharif, while as many as 75 from the same division are at Bagram airport north of Kabul, the Afghan capital, officials said. Both groups are acting as a “rapid reaction force” to protect U.S. interests. In neighboring Uzbekistan, where about 1,000 members of the 10th Mountain have been stationed for weeks, U.S. officials announced that a soldier from that unit died Thursday of a gunshot. They said his death was not the result of enemy action and was being investigated. No other details were released, including the soldier’s name, because relatives had not been notified. Pentagon officials said Thursday that Franks is considering sending additional attack planes to the region, while at least two airfields in northern Afghanistan are being repaired for possible U.S. use. A senior defense official said Thursday that the government of Kyrgyzstan has given Franks conditional approval to base U.S. aircraft at an air base in that former Soviet republic, which lies to the north of Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Franks must provide details, such as the numbers and kinds of aircraft and the expected length of their deployment, before Kyrgyzstan will give final approval. The official said Franks has not decided those details and has yet to make a formal request. Most of the U.S. planes attacking targets in Afghanistan are flying from aircraft carriers in the Arabian Sea or from land bases in the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean. Some Air Force special operations helicopters are based in Uzbekistan. 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