US forces enter Afghan border areas

Operation Unified Resolve began this week in Gosta and nearby districts of Nangarhar province, an area near the Pakistan frontier that has "historically served as an al-Qaeda stronghold," US military spokesman Col. Rodney Davis said in an e-mailed statement from Bagram Air Base.

After setting up a base this week in Jalalabad, the bulk of the US forces involved Saturday "conducted an air assault and ground movement in order to rapidly position forces along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border... to prevent threat elements from crossing the border," Davis said.

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Across the border in Pakistan, dozens of tribesmen fired Saturday at a convoy of Pakistani troops who this week moved into the remote tribal region bordering Afghanistan for the first time, a tribal elder said.

Neither side suffered casualties in the brief confrontation in the region of Salala, 75 miles northeast of Peshawar, Imdadullah Khan told The Associated Press.

"Talks are under way between the army and the tribesmen to solve this issue," he said.

Pakistan, a key US ally in its war on terrorism, has moved troops into the tense region to track down possible Taliban and al-Qaeda remnants.

The US-led mission in Afghanistan was described as a "cooperative combat and civil affairs operation" that was part humanitarian, part military.

"We're assessing villages to determine their needs for wells, schools, roads, irrigation systems and medical clinics while simultaneously demonstrating our ability to hinder the enemy's movement and apply pressure whenever and wherever we choose," Davis said.