Coalition enemies in Afghanistan increasingly elusive

KABUL, Afghanistan -- U.S. troops and their allies are finding it tough to pin down Taliban and al-Qaida remnants, a fact driven home by fighting that sputtered out this week with little indication of who the enemy was or what gains, if any, had been made.

The military says the fighters were loyalists of rebel warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. But former Taliban officials and other Afghans in Kandahar province, site of the fighting, say the men were remnants of the Taliban. They even name leaders: Sirajuddin and Abdul Rahman.

Western intelligence, the United Nations and the rebels themselves say opponents of the United States and President Hamid Karzai have stepped up their recruiting and efforts to reorganize.

Former Taliban even report the emergence in Pashtun-dominated areas of a new administration of Taliban, the Islamic militants who seized most of Afghanistan in the mid-1990s. Their government was toppled by a U.S.-led coalition because it harbored Osama bin Laden.

Battle near caves

The warren of caves in southeast Afghanistan where hundreds of U.S and Norwegian forces fought about 80 rebel fighters this week may have been a staging area, supply depot or hub, said Lt. Col. Michael Shields, operations officer for the Coalition Task Force, 82nd Airborne Division.

Eighteen rebels were killed in what the U.S. military called its biggest assault since Operation Anaconda in March 2002.

In the end, the caves didn't turn up any weapons, and the fighters escaped, their identities still uncertain. Soldiers found mules, lanterns, blankets, food, fuel, water and vitamins in the cave.

"We have concrete evidence that forces were in that particular area at least to seek sanctuary," Shields said.

The problem facing the U.S. and its two dozen allies in Afghanistan may be growing: Fresh recruiting may have attracted thousands to a more coordinated guerrilla opposition.

Militants interviewed by The Associated Press say they are united against the coalition forces in Afghanistan. So-called "night letters," or political pamphlets, call for jihad, or holy war, against the international forces.

Foes of the coalition and Karzai's government now appear to be operating small, mobile training camps in the mountains along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Al-Qaida operatives appear to be doing the training.

Pakistani militant groups are aligned with al-Qaida and the Taliban. The backbone of the so-called Pakistani Taliban are the groups Jaish-e-Mohammed, Harakat-ul Mujahedeen and Lashkar-e-Tayyaba.

Their coordinator is Qari Akhtar, a graduate of an Afghan training center, said a former member of the Taliban who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Uzbeks, Chechens and Tajik rebels in Afghanistan are led by an Uzbek rebel Qari Tahir Yaldash, a deputy of slain Uzbek leader Juma Namangani, say rebel fighters.

The Taliban also have a new, secret administrative structure in ethnic Pashtun areas, former Taliban say.

They say former high-ranking Taliban commander Mullah Brader, of Deh Rawood in Uruzgan province, is the Taliban military head, appointed by fugitive leader Mullah Mohammed Omar.

Brader's deputies are Akhtar Mohammed Uzmani, a former Taliban governor; Dadullah, a one-legged Taliban commander who escaped heavy fighting in Kunduz province; and Abdul Razzak, the former Taliban interior minister.

Pashtun-dominated areas of Afghanistan have been divided up among former Taliban who are recruiting disgruntled young men. Saif-ur Rahman, who commanded Afghan soldiers fighting coalition forces at Operation Anaconda, is in charge of Ghazni, Paktia, Paktika and Gardez provinces.

Razzak and Uzmani are the men organizing Kandahar, Uruzgan, Helmand and Zabul provinces. Eastern Nangarhar, Kunar and Laghman provinces are being organized by Maulvi Abdul Kabir, the Taliban's No. 3 man. Taliban commander Anwar Dangar is organizing the central provinces of Parwan, Kapisa, Wardak, Logar and Kabul.

"There is an administrative and military structure in place in these provinces," said a former member of the Taliban who didn't want to be named but has close contact with former intelligence officials in the hardline regime.

The United States has had broad support for the operations it continues to lead in Afghanistan.

Britain, Poland, Italy, Canada, Spain, Norway and several other countries have contributed small military contingents in Afghanistan engaged in engineering, mine-clearing and other tasks. Australia, Jordan, Germany and several Scandinavian countries also have at times placed special forces units in the country.

In addition, the international peacekeeping force that patrols Kabul has included troops from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, and Turkey.