GARDEZ/BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan

U.S. and Afghan troops said that the Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters start to flee toward the Pakistan border and effectively ending the biggest battle of the Afghan war.

On the 11th day of the battle 95 miles south of Kabul, General Abdullah Joyenda said U.S. and Afghan forces now controlled the entire Shahi Kot area, about 20 miles east of Gardez, capital of Paktia Province bordering Pakistan.

"The battle of Shahi Kot is over. A coalition of both Afghan and U.S. forces has taken control of the entire Shahi Kot Valley," Joyenda, one of several generals in charge of the fighting, told Reuters. "The Taliban and Al-Qaeda are retreating toward the frontier with Pakistan," said the general, who had just returned from the frontline.

Other fighters back from the area said Afghan forces, backed by heavy U.S. bombing, broke through rebel trenches around midday Tuesday to advance on the mountain caves where the remaining fighters were holding out.

Afghan forces pressed home the attack by using tanks to blast the caves at close range. "They were using heavy machine guns to defend their positions but when we broke through the trenches and we advanced with tanks and armored personnel carriers the Taliban retreated," fighter Sayed Hassad told the press.

"We captured seven trenches and killed three rebels at least in every trench," he said. "Most were Pakistanis and Arabs."

Earlier Tuesday, before the final advance, a U.S. military spokesman said there had been no accurate or sustained enemy fire for more than five days. He said the overall coalition toll was 11 dead, including eight Americans, and about 80 wounded. It was not known if the toll rose in the latest battle.

"Eleven days into the fighting hundreds of terrorists and killers are dead. Some are captured and others are alive and on the run," he said.

VARIOUS NEWS ABOUT 'ANACONDA' OPERATION

While the Shahi Kot area has been the focus of the latest fighting, a senior Afghan Defense Ministry official warned other Taliban and Al-Qaeda pockets were active in the eastern provinces of Wardak, Ghazni, Khost and in other parts of Paktia and would soon be attacked.

"We have intelligence that remnants of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda are armed and still active in these regions," the official, a top aide of Defense Minister General Mohammad Fahim told Monday.

Other unofficial sources disclosed that US ceases operation Anaconda to negotiate with Taliban and Al-Qaeda to free 18 captured US soldiers.

These arrested US soldiers include at least two senior high ranking officers. It is believed that Operation Anaconda has been stopped because of American concern as to the fate of these 18 prisoners.
 
Testimonies of some US soldiers also show that the fight with Taliban and Al-Qaeda will take some time.

Three wounded U.S. soldiers at the U.S. military's medical facilities at Landstuhl, Germany, gave a graphic account Friday of their perilous March 2nd battle.

``We could hear them laugh at us,'' said Spc. Wayne Stanton, 20, from Rockwood, Tennessee, who was on crutches and had a cast on his leg. ``They were laughing every time we shot at them.''

``They were 2,000 feet above us. Our small arms could not reach them up there,'' he said. ``Every time a fast mover (aircraft) or a helicopter came to attack them or engage them, they just ran into the caves.''