“That’s where the rockets came in from last night,” Marcus Williams says, pointing up to a rocky ridge to the north. “Down there, we have tracer coming for us every other night,” he adds, indicating a small village below. “And over there are snipers.”

The fierce fighting that has erupted in southern Afghanistan over the past month serves as a sharp reminder that, even as America prepares for an Iraq war, its efforts to pacify Afghanistan are far from over. Indeed, large parts of the country are once more on the verge of anarchy.

Provincial Afghan authorities claimed yesterday that 17 civilians had been killed in American bombing raids against al-Qaeda targets.

There are almost daily attacks not only on American soldiers and their Afghan allies, but also on foreign aid agencies and civilians.

Security in the Pashtun-dominated south has deteriorated rapidly, with a string of attacks apparently inspired by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the former Mujahidin commander and warlord. His fighters are believed to have taken on US troops in fierce fighting around their cave complex outside Spin Boldak last month and later to have launched an offensive against Afghan government forces in Kandahar province.

Even the capital, Kabul, where Germany heads an international peacekeeping force, is unstable, with a recent grenade attack on US soldiers and the arrest of a group of men plotting to blow up an American military installation.

President Karzai, the leader of the interim Government, cannot leave his palace without the protection of former American special forces soldiers.

President Bush boasted in his State of the Union address that America had “liberated an oppressed people” and vowed to reconstruct their shattered infrastructure. “We will continue helping them secure their country, rebuild their society and educate all their children,” he declared to applause.

But while Pentagon planners are eager to switch from combat to reconstruction, continued hostilities have made that impossible. “The mission hasn’t changed,” Colonel Roger King, the American military spokesman in Afghanistan, said. “It’s still primarily a combat mission, to seek out, destroy and capture members of al-Qaeda and those who support them.”

The problem for the soldiers charged with that mission is that the enemy is all too often out of reach. All along the Pakistan border, former Taleban and al-Qaeda fighters have taken refuge in lawless tribal areas, from where they mount hit-and-run attacks.

Reports from the tribal areas suggest that support for Taleban and al-Qaeda forces there has grown steadily in the past few months, since the two border provinces of Pakistan came under the control of ultra-religious Islamic parties sympathetic to their cause.

“They know it’s a sanctuary. They come and go as they please,” Major David Woods, operations commander at Salerno Base, said.

Day after day, on this almost forgotten frontline in the War on Terror, American soldiers stationed at remote bases such as Salerno along the Pakistani border face a barrage of rocket and grenade attacks and sniper fire from suspected Taleban and al- Qaeda fighters. Some Pakistani border guards are said to have actively aided their efforts, guiding them in the direction of American bases.

While American military officials are cagey about discussing the presence of al-Qaeda and the Taleban inside Pakistan, for fear of angering their Pakistani allies, hostilies on the ground have exploded into the open, with Pakistani border guards firing across the border on American special forces based at Shkin.

Even on the Afghan side, there are many sympathetic to the cause of those trying to oust the Americans, and finding out who is helping the attackers is far from simple. The American forces here are largely dependent on the local population for tip-offs about their enemies, but in a society riven by tribal feuds, choosing who to trust can be fraught with danger.

Local tribes have been known to use the al-Qaeda label against their rivals in order to settle scores, and all information is now treated as suspect unless the informers’ motives are known.

Resentment of the American presence and sympathy with the ousted Taleban stop many from passing on what they know. The south and east of the country are Pashtun areas where many are angered by their apparent exclusion from the Government in Kabul. Others are simply scared of the consequences of association with the “enemy”.

“They’re not giving us much information because they’re not sure if we’re staying,” Major Woods said. “I can’t tell if we will or not. The people who at any time have the most guns rule the area and one day that will be someone else.”

The pressure of attacks and threats has already hounded the Americans and their allies out of one border base, Lwara, in neighbouring Paktika province. The fear now is that a war in Iraq may galvanise al-Qaeda and Taleban fighters to launch larger-scale attacks backed by others disgruntled over an American war on another Muslim country.

With the enemy showing little sign of giving up, the Americans may be here for a long haul. Military officials say they expect the 8,000 US troops in Afghanistan to stay for up to two years before scaling back can start. Other are more pessimistic. One high-ranking military official said: “I think we’re looking at a presence here of 10 to 20 years.”

In the meantime, there is little sleep for those on guard along the long and dangerous border. More than 300 of the 1,000 men at Salerno Base spend their nights on guard. “They are patient, they will try to wear us down over time,” Major Woods said. “It was time that beat the Russians.”

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