The strange battle of Shah-i-Kot: “Since it kicked off at the start of March 2002, Operation Anaconda has been a minefield of contradictory statements and unanswered questions. Was it an ‘absolute success’ , or a ‘big mistake’? Did it wipe out the last ‘pockets of al-Qaeda and Taliban resistance’, or did al-Qaeda fighters ‘escape’ to fight again? Did America’s first combined ground-and-air offensive of the war kill 800 of the enemy, or about 20? One US commentator says, ‘We don’t know, the Afghans don’t know – and the US military doesn’t seem to know’.” spiked