Chris Doss The Russia Journal ------------------
US suffers heavy losses in Afghan offensive: Report Arun Mohanty (IANS) Moscow, April 6
The US army suffered heavy losses in Afghanistan during its offensive against Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters in Shahi-Kot valley on Thursday night, a media report said. Nearly 100 US Special Forces personnel were killed and about 200 injured and four Apache helicopter gunships were destroyed in the offensive at Paktia province in eastern Afghanistan, Russian online newspaper Strana.Ru reported quoting well-informed sources in the Kremlin, the seat of the Russian government here. Though the objectives of the operation remained unclear, apparently US forces along with Afghan troops launched the offensive after coming under massive missile attack by Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters Wednesday, the paper said. During an operation in Shahi-Kot valley two weeks ago, US troops had combed nearly 50 caves but did not find any Taliban or Al-Qaeda fighters except bundles of radical Islamic and terrorist literature, maps and operation plans. Local commander Zalaludin Hakkani is leading the Taliban and Al-Qaeda resistance with the help of a large number of Chechen and Arab fighters, the paper said. Hakkani has adopted a new tactic to fight the US troops: he keeps his men in small groups dispersed among the local population and changes their location frequently. He has also promised a reward of $100,000 to the local people for catching a US soldier, the paper said. Hakkani, who became famous for starting the resistance movement against Soviet troops in the early 1980s, is believed to have wide support among the local people, particularly the Pushtuns, the paper said. Well-acquainted with the geography of the region and a master of the guerrilla warfare, Hakkani is likely to turn out a formidable adversary to the US forces for a long time, according to Afghan experts here. They said the Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters are expected to put up strong resistance to the US troops from May when the mountains and the oases in Afghanistan turn green with the advent of spring.