Reuters • Associated Press  --  Arab News

KABUL, 14 March 2004 — US-led forces have launched a sweeping new offensive in Afghanistan’s remote southeastern mountains aimed at crushing the Taleban and Al-Qaeda and snaring militant leaders including Osama Bin Laden.

The operation, codenamed “Mountain Storm”, began on March 7 and involves troops from the 13,500-strong US-led force backed by air support, US military spokesman Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty told a news briefing yesterday. “We believe that this will help bring the heads of the terrorist organizations to justice by continuing to place pressure on them,” he said.

Asked whether the operation could lead to the arrest of Al-Qaeda leader Osama, Hilferty replied: “This operation is aimed like the rest at rebuilding and reconstructing and providing enduring security in Afghanistan, so it’s certainly about more than one person. We do have confidence though, and the leaders of Al-Qaeda and the leaders of the Taleban need to be brought to justice and they will be.”

Hilferty said “Mountain Storm” was a continuation of previous operations and was intended to “destroy terrorist organizations and their infrastructure”.

“We have air support, close-fire support from the air 24-hours a day, circling overhead ready to assist coalition forces. It is a continuing effort to keep pressure on the terrorist organizations and their infrastructure.” The fresh campaign comes after a surge in militant attacks on aid workers and foreigners, as well as against Afghan and US-led forces. US defense officials in Washington on Friday said “Mountain Storm” as a broad spring offensive to hunt down Al-Qaeda fugitives, including Osama.

The officials told Reuters it was timed to exploit improving weather in the region between Afghanistan and Pakistan, where Osama is believed to be. A Taleban spokesman said US forces had launched offensive action from the Waza Khuwa region of Paktika province to the Yakubi region of neighboring Khost province. But he said the elusive Taleban leader Mulla Muhammad Omar, who headed its government that harbored the Al-Qaeda network, was safe.

“Mulla Omar is in a very safe place. But we don’t know about Osama Bin Laden,” Taleban official Abdul Latif Hakimi told Reuters by telephone.

US officials said the secretive Task Force 121, a covert commando team of Special Operations troops and CIA personnel involved in the capture of Saddam Hussein in Iraq in December, has relocated people and equipment to the border region to search for Osama and other Al-Qaeda and Taleban guerrillas.