Afghan mountain hunt for al-Qaida

In a new hunt for al-Qaida suspects, hundreds of Afghan and American soldiers today searched caves and forests in a mountainous region that borders Pakistan, where government troops also were preparing a crackdown.

The operation began Friday in Spera, a border district in Khost province, 90 miles south of Kabul, Afghan military commander Zakim Khan said. No arrests or clashes were reported.

The 700 troops, including 100 American soldiers and helicopters, were trying to block off a possible escape route for militants, such as Osama bin Laden, who could be hiding on the Pakistani side of the border, Khan said.

“We have reports that this was a route used by both Taliban and al-Qaida,” Khan said. “I don’t know how many came and went here, but now they have one option less.”

Khan said that caves in the region “were used during the holy war” against Soviet occupation in the 1980s.

“I’m very optimistic we’ll find something because the main road is covered with Afghan checkpoints,” he said.

The area is across from Pakistan’s Waziristan tribal region, long considered a possible hideout for bin Laden and al-Qaida’s number two, Ayman al-Zawahri.

American officers have said they are confident that bin Laden, Taliban leader Mullah Omar and rebel Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar will be caught, but last week backed off previous forecasts that it would be this year.