1.   As dusk fell , truckloads of alliance troops came back empty-handed from the stronghold of the Taliban warlord.

2.   As he waited with other alliance troops, one such fighter, Makhmud Anvar, said that he had experienced no difficulties with his new comrades.

3.   Advancing is not something the alliance troops do much of.

4.   Failing to disarm the prisoners was not the only mistake the alliance troops made.

5.   He conceded that some of the progress by alliance troops could have been from voluntary withdrawals by Taliban forces.

6.   Hundreds of alliance troops belonging to three militias that took part in the capture now wander the city.

7.   In that episode, alliance troops who had been invited into Kunduz by a Taliban commander walked into an ambush.

8.   Indeed, if the declarations of many alliance troops were credible, the fate that awaits them seems clear.

9.   It did appear that the movement of truckloads of alliance troops, mostly armed with rifles and grenade launchers, had increased in recent days.

10.   It started Saturday afternoon, when hundreds of alliance troops surged toward Taliban lines, signaling the beginning of their biggest offensive in years.