Afghanistan: March 27, 2002

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: Analysis of al Qaeda equipment captured in Operation Anaconda showed that al Qaeda was using laptop computers, satellite telephones, and Email to coordinate their movements and to communicate with other forces in nearby regions. Units were able to keep in contact as they moved from cave to cave, dodging US bombs and troops. A search of the 30 caves cleared in the Shah-I-kot area found quarters for hundreds of troops (which had been occupied until just before the attack) including beds, stoves, aid stations and hospitals, high-tech weapons (the equal of anything that the US is using), and huge amounts of cash. The US Army is proud that it went after a determined and well-equipped enemy on his own ground and defeated him, but has no answer to the main question: where did they all go?--Stephen V Cole