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...daily press briefing at Bagram air base, the allied command post north of Kabul, always begins with a reminder of why so many soldiers have gathered on this dusty plain. Coalition spokesman Major Bryan Hilferty numbers the days since Sept. 11, 2001, reminds reporters of the death toll and describes a victim. Last Friday, it was Michael Hannan, 34, of Lynbrook, N.Y., who, Hilferty said, "knew how to put people at ease and how to make them laugh. His daughters Rachel, 5, Alexandra, 22 months, and wife Andrea are left only with memories." Fifteen minutes later, Hilferty wrapped...
...Bagram--a modest airstrip expanded by the Soviets in the 1980s and currently used as the main in-country base for coalition forces--an air of permanence is taking hold. Soviet-era military debris--from MiG fighters to helmets--is being bulldozed into piles. The runway apron has been extended. Offices and a gym are under construction. The Post Exchange supply shop has begun to accept credit cards. There are even efforts to control the ever-present dust, a fine gray chalk that infiltrates everything--seams, food, mouths--and turns to slime at the slightest hint of rain. And while...
...deep-seated political instincts. Every foreign policy official who will speak even guardedly about the current situation says the President has one eye locked on the 2004 election. Bush isn't courting Jewish votes with his tilt toward Israel; he is courting Christian conservatives in his party's base who are deeply pro-Jerusalem (see box). Many Republicans who are willing to accept Bush's rightward tilt on domestic matters are growing increasingly impatient with its influence on foreign policy...
...Afghanistan, pursuing the surviving remnants of bin Laden's terrorist web, the ISI's cooperation is particularly critical. Western intelligence sources in Islamabad say hundreds of al-Qaeda operatives are still hiding out in Pakistan. Last week, according to tribal elders, some 40 U.S. commandos set up base in the Pakistani town of Miramshah, following reports that bin Laden might be holed up nearby in either north Waziristan or the Tirah valley. Officially, Pakistan's government, sensitive to popular anti-American sentiment, denies that U.S. special forces crossed into its tribal borderlands. Whether or not U.S. troops...
...meantime, Pakistani tribesmen near the border have all the tools to help an al-Qaeda fugitive. In Miramshah, not far from what is said to be the U.S. commandos' new base, locals are offering a complete fashion makeover: for $100 a fugitive gets his beard shaved and a new set of clothes, plus help in slipping through checkpoints on the roads to major Pakistani cities. "These al-Qaeda are willing to pay a lot - and in dollars," a tribal shopkeeper marveled. The U.S. is offering dollars too - $25 million for bin Laden's capture. But while...