Marines sweep in, a month too late

“A MONTH too late” is the mantra among British Marines in Afghanistan as they search fruitlessly for Taleban and al-Qaeda fighters through some of the most inhospitable terrain in the world.
Far from being a military triumph, it is now clear that Operation Anaconda in March allowed significant numbers of guerrillas to flee across the Pakistani border.

Just as December’s fighting in the Tora Bora Mountains failed to kill or capture the radical leadership because there was no flanking move along the Pakistan border to capture escapers, so in Operation Snipe, British troops are closing the stable door more than four weeks after their foe has bolted.