Word: kot
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...small stretch of pine trees at Dara, a village near Gardez, Special Forces and Afghan allies hunker down on a frontline. Al-Qaeda?s forward positions lie across a few hundred feet of rocky ground, in the first of the mountains of Shah-I-Kot. The sky is filled with light snow and the drone of U.S. strike aircraft pounding the white capped peaks above. Occasionally, the jagged walls of rock rumble with explosions, and belch plumes of black smoke. Within hours the ground attack will recommence. Led by U.S. soldiers, these bedraggled Afghan fighting men in dirty shalwar kameez...
...President Burhanuddin Rabbani before being killed by political rivals in a 1993 car bombing, the young Mansoor joined the Taliban and served as deputy commander of the garrison at Kargha near Kabul until last November. Following the movement's collapse, Mansoor returned home and reactivated the base at Shahi Kot, which had served his father so well against the Soviets...
...Mansoor's mountain stronghold appears to have been a magnet for Taliban die-hards and al-Qaeda fighters, a number of whom made their way to Shahi Kot - some with the families in tow - to avoid capture by the U.S. and its allies. That had caused consternation among local tribal leaders already made edgy by a bloody, unrelated power struggle between rival warlords. Shortly before the battle at Shahi Kot began, Mansoor had reportedly been negotiating terms for his surrender with tribal elders sent by Taj Mohammed Wardak, the new governor of Paktia, the province where Shahi Kot is located...
...Taliban and al-Qaeda elements that have regrouped in eastern Afghanistan and western Pakistan want to use the casualties inflicted on the U.S. at Shahi Kot to embolden anti-American forces throughout the region. Even before this week's clashes, British peacekeepers had been fired on three times in Kabul, while U.S. forces had come under attack more than once in both Kandahar and Khost. Despite the setbacks at Shahi Kot, however, the U.S. still holds the initiative there, and defeat of Mansoor's troops will presumably be a setback for anti-U.S. forces. Still, there are emerging signs...
...failed to put up much resistance and had lost control over most of Afghanistan in a matter of weeks. And the one-eyed cleric was last seen fleeing for his life on the pillory of a motorcycle. Still, the ferocity of the fighting at Shahi Kot is a reminder that the Taliban and al-Qaeda are not yet finished in Afghanistan...