Military

DATE=4/16/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=AFGHAN U-S TROOPS (L/S)

NUMBER=2-288796

BYLINE=NICK SIMEONE

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

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INTRO: The United States and Britain have begun a new operation to search for remnants of the al-Qaida and Taleban networks in Afghanistan. Correspondent Nick Simeone reports from Washington.

TEXT: The operation involves American troops working with an undisclosed number of British Marines in what the Pentagon describes as a search and surveillance mission in eastern Afghanistan.

Air Force General John Rosa says there has been no contact with al-Qaida or Taleban fighters, and military commanders are not sure whether senior members of either group are hiding out in this region.

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When you are out doing surveillance and reconnaissance, you really do not want to tell people what you are seeing. You do not want to tell people how you see the enemy reacting and what they are doing.

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There are reported to be about 17-hundred British troops in Afghanistan.

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What he will say is that the mission will go on for some time with Pakistan keeping a close watch on movements from across the border.

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We have been working hand-in-hand with their (Pakistan) special forces on the border and also their conventional forces in an attempt to seal the border. Hot pursuit, where folks are leaving Afghanistan and going toward Pakistan, I do not believe we have engaged in that situation.

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But despite efforts to seal the Afghan/Pakistan border, eyewitness accounts and reports from the region suggest it is easy to escape detection in the mountainous terrain and cross into Pakistan. Several suspected al-Qaida members are reported to have taken refuge there.

Abu Zubaida, the most senior al-Qaida leader apprehended in the war against terrorism, was captured in Pakistan last month. (SIGNED)

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