British set to head off al-Qaida return

Associated Press And The Washington Post

BAGRAM, Afghanistan – By foot, vehicle and helicopter, hundreds of British troops have begun patrolling near the Pakistani border to stop al-Qaida and Taliban fighters from slipping back into Afghanistan in a remote area where a warlord opponent of the United States may be active.

The new British deployment, code named Operation Buzzard, will last for several weeks and cover plains south and east of the city of Khost near the Pakistani border, British military spokesman Lt. Col. Ben Curry said.

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the powerful warlord accused of seeking to kill American soldiers and sabotage Afghanistan’s interim government, is known to have connections to the area and could help al-Qaida make a resurgence in Afghanistan, Curry said. But he would not say whether Operation Buzzard aimed specifically to hunt down Hekmatyar.

Hundreds of al-Qaida operatives are living in Pakistan’s urban centers and have cooperated with local militants in several recent attacks, Pakistani security sources said.

In addition, raids by Pakistani and U.S. security agents have turned up evidence that extensive al-Qaida operations are being planned and carried out from inside this country, a key U.S. ally in the war against terrorism.

And two former high-ranking Taliban officials have said the Taliban’s supreme leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, is overseeing a reorganization of the religious movement and has been in contact with Taliban warriors in their mountain hide-outs in Afghanistan.

The Taliban fighters may seek a “symbolic victory” against U.S.-led forces, including shooting down a helicopter or capturing a soldier and executing him, a senior British official said.

U.S. military spokesman Maj. Bryan Hilferty said al-Qaida and Taliban members may also try to sabotage the loya jirga, the June 10-15 grand council meeting of Afghans from across the country to draw up a government.

Operation Buzzard is not specifically designed to protect the grand council meeting, Curry said, but “clearly anything that we can do to prevent any form of disruption that al-Qaida or the Taliban may try to cause is a good thing.”

Some 300 British troops were deployed over the past three days in the area, but the number could rise to 700, a senior British official said on condition of anonymity.