31.   She said U.S. and Afghan forces returned fire and used air support to illuminate the area and strike back.

32.   Some military analysts and specialists on the weapons trade say the CIA has spent years covering its tracks on its early ties to the Afghan forces.

33.   So the Afghan forces never arrived.

34.   That is why planners intended to spearhead the attack with Afghan forces.

35.   That may require more difficult military operations against the Taliban in their southern stronghold, where the United States lacks a combined Afghan force like the Northern Alliance.

36.   Taliban units appear to have avoided raping and pillaging in the manner of most of the other Afghan forces that have fought in the civil war.

37.   The agreement has taken days to hammer out, in part because of concerns that it not appear as if the British were supplanting or dominating the Afghan forces.

38.   The American bombing of Tora Bora has been aimed at forcing the al-Qaida fighters into smaller groups whom the Afghan forces can engage in battle.

39.   The Coalition Authority and Afghan forces fighting to free Afghanistan will continue to hunt down these cowards.

40.   The gunfight Sunday erupted near the village of Shkin on the rugged border with Pakistan when a patrol of U.S. and Afghan forces was fired upon, Newbold said.