Al Qaeda's village lifeline

North of Kabul, at the Bagram Air Base, a British military intelligence officer says that Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters are lying low in Afghanistan as they plot a renewed assault on US-led coalition forces. Speaking as the first 100 of 1,700 special British mountain fighters arrive at the base, Maj. Tony de Reya says members of the ultra-Islamic groups are likely in a "tactical pause" before "the next phase of their campaign."

The Al Qaeda network, blamed by Washington for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, "still sits hand-in-hand with the Taliban," de Reya says.

The remnants suffered heavy losses around the Shah-e Kot Valley in eastern Afghanistan during "Operation Anaconda" last month, but de Reya says they were regrouping. "There are large groupings of Al-Qaeda/Taliban in certain areas of operation (across the country)."

Since 1979, Zerok has not lost its allure as a would-be base for militants. There are no formal public schools or hospitals, not even a recognizable government office. Instead, there are numerous madrassas, or religious schools, which teach young boys little beyond the Koran and the concepts of holy war.

Local leaders are considered conservative – often fundamentalist in their beliefs – and the man leading them, say villagers, is the same one who launched the war against Soviet occupation. Jalaluddin Haqqani, the target of several US military raids in the area in recent months, visited Zerok over the weekend to rally his Al Qaeda's forces, locals say.

Residents in Zerok still fondly recall the day in 1979 that their village was used to launch the war against the foreigners and their so-called "Afghan puppets." "It was spring, and the weather was a bit warmer than in winter, when Haqqani brought a RPG7 rocket launcher from Pakistan," says Ghulam Nabi a former mujahideen fighter who took part in the 1979 attack against the military check post in Zerok. "Haqqani chose 10 fighters to take part in that attack, I was one of them. We had seven guns, two pistols and one rocket."

But Nabi, who owns a small shop in Zerok now, says that it won't necessarily be a model for the fight against the British or the Americans.

"The situation is quite different, now," he says. "At that time we had very good support from our people, but now these militants have no local support. The Russian air fire was not very targeted, but this time the big planes are very dangerous, they hit the target very well."

Still, Nabi, who has watched Al Qaeda's build-up around Zerok, says that the new guerrilla army roving in the nearby mountains, has plenty of weapons. "They have enough arms and ammunition. They have rocket launchers, mortars, cannons and heavy machine guns. ... Even if they are not able to take power, they will create headaches for both Karzai and US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan. With external support – if they have it – they will be very dangerous."

• Material from wire services was used in this report.

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