The Associated Press
U.S. troops with the 10th Mountain Division board a Chinook helicopter Wednesday at Bagram air base on their way to eastern Afghanistan.

Allied forces: Battle in valley over

Major objective of Operation Anaconda reportedly complete

PETER BAKER AND SUSAN B. GLASSER THE WASHINGTON POST

SHAHIKOT, Afghanistan -- U.S. and Afghan forces declared victory Wednesday in their campaign to cleanse this mountainous region of al-Qaida and Taliban forces, sweeping through the Shah-e-kot Valley and effectively ending the biggest and deadliest battle of the war for U.S. troops.

The 12-day offensive known as Operation Anaconda destroyed the two radical Islamic groups' last known fortified stronghold in Afghanistan. U.S. officials reported the enemy death toll in the hundreds -- though the estimate could not be confirmed -- while eight Americans and three Afghans were killed.

Although some officials cautioned that further fighting could lie ahead as coalition forces hunt for foes that may have escaped the battle, exuberant Afghan commanders said the operation amounted to the finale of a five-month war launched last fall in retaliation for the Sept. 11 attacks. Hundreds of U.S. and Afghan troops Wednesday began packing up to leave.

"The war is over," said Gul Haidar, the top commander of Afghan forces here. "In my opinion, there is no more al-Qaida in Afghanistan."

"This is nothing if not an incredible success," Maj. Bryan Hilferty, a U.S. military spokesman, said at Bagram air base north of Kabul, the Afghan capital. "We've killed hundreds of al-Qaida" while sustaining "very light casualties" on the U.S. side. "We've taken out a hard-core center of the al-Qaida leadership."

Yet despite Wednesday's triumphal march into this demolished hamlet of red-mud houses where al-Qaida and Taliban guerrillas once took refuge, officials believe that many escaped and headed toward Pakistan to the east or northward toward other potential safe havens in Afghanistan. Scores and perhaps hundreds eluded allied checkpoints and remained at large, possibly including their leader, Saeef Rahman Mansour, a Taliban commander.

The combat zone provided ample signs Wednesday of the power of 12 days of bombardment by U.S. warplanes, which leveled buildings, blasted pickup trucks, shredded trees, collapsed caves and literally blew some enemy fighters out of their shoes.

Death toll unconfirmed

Less numerous, however, were indications of the staggering loss of life that U.S. officials say their enemies suffered. Along a ridge near the village of Shah-e-kot, three bodies lay covered with flies, decaying in the desert sun, but there was no evidence to confirm that 700 fighters had been killed, as the Pentagon has claimed. Gen. Zia, an Afghan commander, said only 150 to 200 bodies have been found.

Afghan troops said they took 35 prisoners and turned them over to the Americans; a U.S. spokesman put the number at fewer than 20. "They're being interrogated, exploited for information to find out exactly what was in here," said a U.S. officer who identified himself only as Mark.

Shahikot appeared ravaged and uninhabitable. Virtually no structure in the village evaded U.S. bombs and most have crumbled into rubble. All that was left to indicate Shah-e-kot once served as a base for terrorists on the run were prosaic items strewn about: a couple of juice boxes, a toothbrush and tube of Ciptodent toothpaste.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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