Qaida holdouts Kabul, Dec 11, SPA -- U.S. troops have begun a new offensive to hunt Taliban and al-Qaida militants through the harsh Afghan winter, aiming to sap their strength ahead of planned spring elections, the American military said Saturday. Operation Lightning Freedom was initiated after Tuesday's inauguration of Hamid Karzai as the country's first democratically elected president, U.S. Army spokesman Maj. Mark McCann said. He said he didn't know exactly when the operation began and gave no details of any specific moves against militant targets. "It's going on throughout the country of Afghanistan," McCann told a news conference. "It's designed basically to search out and destroy the remaining remnants of Taliban forces who traditionally we believe go to ground during the winter months." Maj. Gen. Eric Olson, the No. 2 American commander here, told The Associated Press last month that the operation would include a redeployment to tighten security on the border with Pakistan and raids by special forces to snatch rebel leaders. The landmark Oct. 9 presidential vote which gave a landslide victory to Karzai, the U.S.-backed favorite, was noticeably absent of violence threatened by Taliban diehards, who continue to fight on three years after being ousted from power. Attention is already turning to the more complex National Assembly election, slated for April. The new drive, which involves the entire 18,000-strong U.S.-led force here, is also aimed at persuading militants to take up an offer of amnesty from the American military and the Afghan government. "Ultimately, what we believe these operations will do is they will establish security conditions that allow the parliamentary elections in the spring to occur with the same success" as October's historic vote for president, McCann said. --more 1149 Local Time 0849 GMT
