U.S. Marines set up staging area near Kandahar in search for Taliban, al-Qaida fighters

By DAVID MARTIN
Associated Press Writer

SOUTHERN AFGHANISTAN – U.S. Marine ground and air assault teams moved closer to Kandahar on Monday to step up the search for Taliban leaders and members of Osama bin Laden's terror network fleeing their fallen stronghold.

The new staging area overlooking several roads is about 12 miles from Kandahar. It will let the Marines respond quickly to tips from anti-Taliban forces, according to Marine spokesman Capt. David Romley.

The Taliban agreed to surrender Kandahar on Thursday, and many fled the following day as opposition forces moved in. Others are believed to remain in the city, and some are armed.

At the staging area, the Marines have LAV-25s – fast-moving light armored vehicles with 25mm cannons – and Humvees armed with TOW anti-tank missiles. They are backed by attack helicopters.

"We reinforced our raid force and moved that force closer to Kandahar," Romley said. "We reinforced by ground and air."

At least a dozen helicopters left Camp Rhino, the Marines' base some 70 miles southwest of Kandahar, to pick up troops guarding roads around Kandahar and move them to the staging area.

"It feels very good to be here. Everybody wants to contribute," said Maj. Tom Impellitteri, 32, of Pennsylvania.

Romley said the Marines have not surrounded Kandahar, but are in position to cut off any escape routes "wherever we are asked to by opposition forces."

"We are not moving to seize Kandahar," he added.

The troops are patrolling roads, carrying photographs of "key terrorists," in the search for Taliban figures, including the supreme leader Mullah Mohammed Omar.

Officials have said the Marines are trained in distinguishing "friend from foe," but haven't specified their methods.

"We are continuing to look for the al-Qaida and Taliban who still have their weapons," said Marines spokesman Capt. Stewart Upton. "If the Taliban hold their weapons, they will die."

In one encounter Friday, the Marines attacked a Taliban convoy that approached them at high speed, killing seven fighters with the help of air support. No Marines were injured.

President Bush launched military operations against the Taliban on Oct. 7 after they refused to hand over bin Laden, the Saudi head of al-Qaida and the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

Romley acknowledged the dangers the Marines face as they move closer to the city.

"The closer you get to Kandahar, the more dangerous it gets," Romley said. "There is a large presence of minefields."

But the Marines were enthusiastic about their mission.

"We sat on the ship for 21/2 to three months while all this stuff was going on, and it was killing us. Now we get out here. There isn't anything else we'd rather do," said Sgt. Corey, who didn't give his last name.

The Marines – who officials say number more than 1,300 – seized a desert airstrip here on Nov. 25 as a forward operating base known as Camp Rhino.

At the camp itself, Marines have been building a detention center for prisoners of war. Just outside the walls of the camp, the center will house any battlefield detainees or prisoners of war U.S. military officials want to hold in Afghanistan.

Currently the base houses only one detainee: John Walker, 20, of Fairfax, Calif., a Taliban fighter who surrendered near the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif, where he was caught in a prison uprising before U.S. authorities took control of him and flew him here.

Upton said Sunday that Walker was gaunt and dehydrated but in good condition as he recovered from a gunshot wound to his leg.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: David Martin is a photographer with The Associated Press who is part of a media pool at Camp Rhino.

AP-WS-12-10-01 1301EST