Week-old battle in Afghanistan likely to endure

KATHY GANNON THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

GARDEZ, Afghanistan -- Snow, clouds and high winds quelled fighting Friday, but the week-old battle to drive al-Qaida and Taliban holdouts from the rugged, icy mountains in eastern Afghanistan was expected to drag on for several more days as the enemy hunkered into hide-outs and refused to surrender.

The central government of interim Prime Minister Hamid Karzai dispatched convoys of Afghan reinforcements, mainly ethnic Tajiks who were unwelcome in the Pashtun battleground, to help mop up enemy holdouts.

The troops were led by the wooden-legged general Gul Haider who fought first the Soviets then the Taliban as part of the northern alliance under the legendary Ahmed Shah Masood who was assassinated days before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

Saying they would rout al-Qaida remnants from their hide-outs, about 70 Afghan fighters sitting on tanks and trucks loaded with artillery rumbled into Gardez late in the day and were part of a force of about 1,000 which the Karzai government said it was sending to the area.

Despite snow, bitter cold and dense clouds in the mountains, allied forces cleared caves, land mines and flew reconnaissance and bombing missions over the Shah-e-Kot range where the battle has raged since last Saturday.

Col. Joe Smith, chief of staff of the 10th Mountain Division, said fighting Thursday night had been intense in the southern part of the battle area.

In St. Petersburg, Fla., President Bush spoke of the overall ferocity of the battle so far, in which about 1,000 American troops, about 2,000 U.S.-allied Afghan soldiers and smaller numbers from Germany, Australia and other allied nations are engaged in ground combat against hundreds of al-Qaida fighters.

"We're fighting fierce fighters," Bush said. Noting reports that the enemy is showing no inclination to surrender, the president said, "That's OK. If that's their attitude, we'll just have to adjust."

U.S. officers say about 500 to 600 al-Qaida and holdouts have been killed since the offensive began last weekend. The death toll is far higher than U.S. estimates of the size of the entire enemy force when the operation began.

The confirmed coalition toll remained at eight U.S. servicemen and three Afghans.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called the enemy fighters still battling a growing U.S.-led force "dead-enders" and backed down from his estimation that Operation Anaconda could wrap up over the weekend. He said several more days might be required to clear the region.

"I have not seen anyone surrender," Col. Frank Wiercinski, whose 101st Airborne Division troops have been battling al-Qaida fighters and their Taliban allies for a week in the icy, rugged mountains here in Paktia province.

Before storm clouds moved in Friday afternoon, U.S.-led forces clashed with al-Qaida remnants in the southern sector of the 60-square-mile operation area roughly 80 miles south of the capital, Kabul, Smith said.

He said al-Qaida forces had suffered "lots" of casualties over the past 24 hours but gave no figure.

In Washington, Air Force Brig. Gen. John Rosa told a Pentagon news conference that U.S. officials believe there are "a couple hundred" enemy fighters still holding out.

He said U.S. warplanes had flown 200 missions Friday and dropped 75 bombs.

U.S. forces were finding small pockets of al-Qaida fighters, doggedly refusing to quit -- but not the large ones found in the first few days of combat, Wiercinski said.

In other developments:

- Green Berets and other Army Special Force soldiers mourned the death of Chief Warrant Officer Stanley L. Harriman, 34, of Wade, N.C., the first U.S. serviceman killed in the fiercest battle of the war in Afghanistan.

- Afghan women marked international women's day by demanding more power and schooling at a ceremony in Kabul attended by Interim leader Hamid Karzai, U.N. human rights chief Mary Robinson and other dignitaries.

"We want every Afghan girl to have a pen and book in her hands and go to school," declared Sima Samar, the minister of women's affairs.

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