] In recent weeks, US military forces and special CIA teams
] are believed to have stepped up search operations in
] south-eastern Afghanistan, as more leads come in from
] intercepted radio and satellite telephone communications
] and from material seized with al-Qaeda leaders recently
] arrested in Pakistan.

Though this article doesn't mention their names, two of those leaders would almost certainly be Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (Al Qaeda Operations Director) and Yassir al-Jazeeri, the US-educated "computer whiz" Al Qaeda Communications Director, along with several other key Al Qaeda personnel. Not to mention the multiple laptop computers and other files that we got with them.

I've been scouring the news for information on whether we've cracked the encryption on al-Jazeeri's two laptops, but haven't been able to find anything yet. Since he was reputedly one of the key links in routing communications from bin Laden though, then I'd say that the news that we've sent several hundred troops to a very specific location in Afghanistan is a very promising sign.

It's hard to get Al Qaeda / Afghanistan news at the moment under all the Iraq chatter, but this is a big story. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Helicopters swoop on hide-out in Afghanistan