Word: valleys
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...says that in the tiny villages that cling to the slopes, al-Qaeda fighters had been buying the houses with mud walls, like miniature medieval fortresses. "Those who didn't want to sell," Wardak told TIME, "were asked to leave." Some al-Qaeda fighters hunkered down; high above the valley floor, others headed for the caves that Mansoor's father had dug 20 years...
Amazingly, the companies at the south of the valley did not suffer an American fatality that first day. Things went less well in the northwest, where a force of Afghans led by General Ziahuddin, accompanied by American special forces, was to enter the valley from Zurmat. Abdul Sabur, a young Afghan, had signed on with the Americans for $200 a month, plus a mountain parka, a new Kalashnikov assault rifle and the promise of meat at least once a day. The risks seemed worth it; Sabur's own commander had not paid him for months...
Intense fighting continued through Tuesday and Wednesday. In the first five days of the battle, some 500 bombs and missiles were dropped on the valley. Gunships raked al-Qaeda positions, killing hundreds. "You could hear the AC-130 bombers circling above in the clouds, then this slow thud, thud, thud," said Marine Captain Jeff Pool. "Then these great showers of dust would rise up from the valley floor." By the weekend, snow and freezing rain returned, and American commanders had to decide whether to risk more casualties by going after those fighters--maybe 200 of them--still in the caves...
...hammer and anvil" maneuver on Saturday, allied forces tried to encircle al-Qaeda fighters and cut off their escape routes, while Afghan militia advanced into the valley. Instead the Americans found themselves pinned down by mortar fire and rescued only after a fierce 18-hour fire fight. In the next three days, eight Americans were killed in battle...
Chechen rebels, a few with al-Qaeda links, have long been hiding in Georgia's Pankisi Gorge, a lawless valley full of refugees. Russia asked Georgia for permission to send in troops. Now a dozen al-Qaeda fleeing Afghanistan have snuck into the area. Georgia has turned to the U.S. instead; American military advisers will arrive this month to train elite battalions...