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Date Posted: 14:53:30 01/02/02 Wed
Author: NORIMITSU ONISHI
Subject: 200 Marines on the Move Toward Abandoned Taliban Compound

January 2, 2002

200 Marines on the Move Toward Abandoned Taliban Compound
By NORIMITSU ONISHI with JAMES DAO

Afghan Leader Warily Backs U.S. Bombing (January 2, 2002)

ANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Jan. 1 — Backed by helicopter gunships and Harrier jets, a convoy carrying about 200 United States marines rumbled out of Kandahar before dawn today to secure an abandoned Taliban compound, in what amounted to the most extensive American ground operation in the war.

The marines headed west of Kandahar, the former Taliban stronghold, into neighboring Helmand Province, which has become the focus of American military activity in recent days. Until now, the marines had been largely restricted to the Kandahar Airport and a desert base southwest of here, reflecting American concerns that ground operations would increase the possibility of casualties.

Army Special Operations troops are also working with Afghan fighters to search for Mullah Muhammad Omar, the Taliban leader, in the mountainous region of Baghran in northern Helmand Province, where perhaps as many as 2,000 Taliban are still hiding. The Pentagon is also considering plans to send a larger number of ground troops, possibly marines, to Baghran to help hunt for Mullah Omar.

Afghan officials said today that the Taliban holdouts in Baghran had begun surrendering weapons and vehicles, according to an agreement that is supposed to lead to a full surrender this week.

Some Afghan commanders said they were unsure of Mullah Omar's location. But Hajji Gullalai, the regional intelligence director, said he was negotiating with people close to Mullah Omar over his surrender.

"We know where Mullah Muhammad Omar is," he said in an interview outside his office today. "We have some demands, and the Taliban have some objections. They have some demands, and we have some objections. But I'm confident the negotiations will be successful." He did not say whether Mullah Omar was in Baghran.

Senior Pentagon officials said "a body of evidence" indicated that Mullah Omar was in the Baghran area. For that reason, American military officers in Kandahar have been pressing Gul Agha Shirzai, the American-backed warlord who controls the region, to mount an offensive against the Taliban holdouts, offering the assistance of American commandos, warplanes and possibly other combat troops.

The mission in Baghran, however, suggests diverging interests between the Americans and Afghans. As President Bush indicated on Monday, capturing Mullah Omar remains a priority for the United States, particularly since the trail of Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda, appears to have grown cold. The Pentagon has drawn criticism for not having posted American ground troops in the Tora Bora region to prevent Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters from fleeing.

But just as in Tora Bora, where Afghan fighters showed little interest in searching through the mountains and caves for Taliban and Al Qaeda members, the Afghans here have displayed little interest in hunting for Mullah Omar and other senior Taliban in Baghran. When Mr. Gullalai said on Dec. 17 that Mullah Omar was in Baghran, he also said seizing him was not a priority for Mr. Shirzai's government.

At the Kandahar Airport base, Col. Andrew Frick, the commander of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, said this morning that the marines had left Kandahar in the night, accompanied by Mr. Shirzai's soldiers. He said the marines had secured their location — a sprawling Taliban compound with 14 buildings — without encountering any hostility, and were expected to return by Wednesday morning.

Colonel Frick suggested the compound was in a rural area not too far from the main highway that cuts across southern Afghanistan. He said no marines were in Baghran, which is in a remote area 100 miles north of the highway.

Officials with the United States Central Command in Tampa, Fla., said the compound probably had also been used by Al Qaeda forces who may have left behind documents, videotapes or computers that could shed light on the terrorist network's activities. The marines mainly provided security, while Mr. Shirzai's soldiers combed the buildings for such materials, the officials said.

American forces have canvassed a dozen locations that had been occupied by the Taliban or Al Qaeda in the region, Colonel Frick said. But he added that the area's size required the deployment of the significant marine force for the first time.

There had been reports by American news photographers in Kandahar that the marines had departed for Helmand Province by helicopter on Monday, possibly to assist in an attack on Baghran. But the Central Command said today that those helicopters were probably carrying marines to ships off shore or to another Marine base southwest of Kandahar.

The Afghans here — who are of the same Pashtun ethnic group as most of the Taliban — have favored negotiations over fighting. On Sunday, Mr. Shirzai's commanders reached an agreement with Abdul Waheed, the Taliban commander in the Baghran region, for the surrender of the holdouts. Mr. Waheed is a former official in the Taliban foreign ministry and a close ally of Mullah Omar.

Afghan officials said today that Mr. Waheed had started giving up vehicles and weapons, and that the surrender process was on track. Negotiations had centered on whether Mr. Waheed would be allowed to keep some weapons and vehicles, Mr. Shirzai's commanders said.

It is not clear how the Afghans and Americans will react if the Sunday agreement fails to yield all the Taliban holdouts, weapon stockpiles and, especially, Mullah Omar. Afghan commanders said they were prepared to fight the Taliban in Baghran.

"We have 5,000 soldiers ready to fight in Baghran," Mr. Gullalai said. "When we capture all of the Taliban, we will search every place in Baghran for Mullah Omar."

He did not say, however, where the soldiers had come from. Most of Mr. Shirzai's commanders are here in Kandahar, and they have yet to send their troops to Baghran.

The Central Command also reported today that a new batch of 25 Al Qaeda soldiers had been brought to a Marine Corps detention camp at Kandahar Airport, bringing the total number of prisoners there to 189. Cmdr. Dan Keesee, a Central Command spokesman, said most of those new detainees were captured by Pakistani troops after they had fled across the border from Tora Bora.

Commander Keesee said eight Al Qaeda prisoners — including John Walker Lindh, the American captured with Taliban forces near Mazar-i-Sharif — were transferred on Monday from a brig on the Peleliu to another amphibious assault ship in the Arabian Sea, the Bataan.

The Peleliu — which carries the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, whose troops are also in Kandahar — is scheduled either to return to the United States later this month or to deploy on a new mission, Pentagon officials say.

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