Afghanistan: October 11, 2002

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US Special Forces continue to hunt al Qaeda and Taliban holdouts in southeastern Afghanistan and in western Pakistan, but the enemy has adopted a new strategy. Instead of hiding in caves or remote base camps (which could eventually be spotted by recon assets and destroyed by bombing or commando raids) they have taken to staying inside villages where they blend in with the locals. By passing around a lot of cash, they make sure that nobody has any reason to betray them to the US. They can still conduct training in caves or remote areas, moving around every day so that no pattern can be seen.--Stephen V Cole