WASHINGTON: Afghanistan's former Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar is pursuing a strategy to reclaim power, the top U.S. intelligence official said , identifying a key administration concern as the White House prepared to unveil a new plan to step up combat operations and stabilization efforts.U.S. spy agencies lack a detailed understanding of the regional dynamics across much of Afghanistan, said Dennis C. Blair, the director of national intelligence."We know a heck of a lot more about Iraq on a very granular basis than we do in Afghanistan," Blair said, describing an intelligence imbalance that could hamper the Obama administration's efforts as it shifts troops from one War Theater to the other. Omar is believed to be based in the Pakistan city of Quetta.
BAGHDAD: Nearly 500 U.S. Army combat engineers who specialize in clearing roads of explosives started shifting to southern Afghanistan."We are probably going to be the beginning of the influx you are going to see to Afghanistan," Lt. Col. Kevin Landers, commander of the Fort Carson, Colo.-based 4th Engineer Battalion, said as crews packed crates and cleaned vehicles for the flight to Kandahar.Obama has ordered 17,000 more U.S. soldiers and Marines to Afghanistan to bolster the 38,000 American troops already battling the resurgent Taliban."We are going to take this footprint out of Iraq," said Landers, whose battalion received word of its reassignment last month just after taking command of clearing roads in Baghdad of bombs and debris.
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