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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Pakistan admits possibility of al-Qaeda escape |
| 2004-03-25 |
| An unknown number of Al-Qaeda-linked militants may have escaped a army siege of tribal villages near the Afghan border, a senior local security official admitted today. "The possibility of some militants managing to escape the area through various routes is not out of the question," a top security official for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) told AFP. "However tight the cordon may be, we cannot put troops shoulder to shoulder and, therefore, the possibility of one or two men slipping through at night cannot be ruled out." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #9 everytime i saw it on the news the net kept getting bigger. Shouldn't they be closing the net??? |
| Posted by: meeps 2004-03-25 11:23:56 PM |
| #8 On a more serious note, the follow-up is more important. Will we allow them a Hunda or will we keep the pressure on? |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-03-25 9:50:27 PM |
| #7 Did we quit when the German's bombed Pearl Harbor? No. Where are my tracking dogs? LET'S DO ITTTTTttttt. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-03-25 9:48:32 PM |
| #6 I have to agree w. Fred. The media reports emphasized the HUGE numbers of Paki troops and the use of artillery and helicopter gunships pit against 400-500 militants in a mud fort? And the standoff is STILL NOT OVER?!!? This is window dressing by Perv. As LH points out, however, it is a good sign that he has broken the taboo of operating in the tribal areas. Perv's balancing act is not going to work, he's stirred up a nest of extremists that want to remove him, and he's going to have to "defecate or discommode" as I've heard used on this site on several occasions (my new favorite cliche!). |
| Posted by: mjh 2004-03-25 5:03:39 PM |
| #5 Sheep led by donkeys. |
| Posted by: 11A5S 2004-03-25 3:16:47 PM |
| #4 Sometime around the morning of day two I quit hoping for any kind of victory. The Pak army justified by deep and abiding faith in them. |
| Posted by: Fred 2004-03-25 3:06:31 PM |
| #3 even if they lost the main quarry, theyve killed about 50 hostiles, captured (and interrogated) about 150, destroyed an AQ base/compound, and shown their ability to operate openly with large forces in the FATA. Not to mention that some of the guys who got away have probably been caught or killed by US troops on the Afghan side of the border. Not the victory we were hoping for, but still progress. |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2004-03-25 3:03:53 PM |
| #2 No bribes were involved, I'm suuuure... |
| Posted by: Raj 2004-03-25 2:55:53 PM |
| #1 one or two my butt! The Paks lost credibility with this SNAFU. |
| Posted by: Yosemite Sam 2004-03-25 2:53:28 PM |