Gannett News Service
Capt. Kevin Butler, the commanding officer for Alpha Company, part of the 101st Airborne Division, looks at a map Wednesday to help him call in airstrikes.

Al-Qaida, Taliban deaths in hundreds

THOMAS E. RICKS AND VERNON LOEB THE WASHINGTON POST

WASHINGTON -- U.S. forces and their Afghan allies engaged al-Qaida and Taliban fighters in fierce close combat in the hills and mountains of eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday as both sides poured in reinforcements for the largest ground battle of the war.

Army Maj. Gen. Franklin Hagenbeck, commander of U.S. forces in the five-day U.S. offensive, said U.S. troops, fighting in snow-covered mountains as high as 10,000 feet, had killed "several hundred" al-Qaida and Taliban fighters over the last day.

Hagenbeck said the United States had gained the upper hand in the battle after an early setback and initial round of casualties in which eight U.S. troops were killed. "We truly have the momentum at this point," he said. "We own the dominant terrain in the area."

The United States has brought in an additional 200 to 300 troops, boosting its ground presence to more than 1,000 troops in the 60-square-mile area south of the eastern Afghan city of Gardez, where U.S. forces are attacking al-Qaida positions. The United States also added 12 additional Apache helicopter gunships to the battle on the heels of five Marine Cobra attack helicopters that were brought in on Tuesday.

Opposition forces also increased their numbers, Hagenbeck said. "The local fundamentalists have called a jihad against the Americans and their coalition partners, and they have been fueling, infiltrating fighters into this area," he said. Intelligence estimates are that there are about 350 fighters remaining alive in the hills, he said, and an equal amount dead.

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