“Washington, D.C. – As an October chill fell on the mountain passes that separate the militant havens in Afghanistan and Pakistan, a small team of Afghan intelligence commandos and American Special Operations forces descended on a village where they believed a leader of Al Qaeda was hiding.

“That night the Afghans and Americans got their man, Abu Bara al-Kuwaiti. They also came away with what officials from both countries say was an even bigger prize: a laptop computer and files detailing Qaeda operations on both sides of the border.

“American military officials said the intelligence seized in the raid was possibly as significant as the information found in the computer and document of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, after members of the Navy SEALS killed him in 2011.

“In the months since, the trove of intelligence has helped fuel a significant increase in night raids by American Special Operations forces and Afghan intelligence commandos, Afghan and American officials said.

“The spike in raids is at odds with policy declarations in Washington, where the Obama administration has deemed the American role in the war essentially over. But the increase reflects the reality in Afghanistan, where fierce fighting in the past year killed record numbers of Afghan soldiers, police officers and civilians.

“American and Afghan officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were discussing operations that are largely classified, said that American forces were playing direct combat roles in many of the raids and were not simply going along as advisers.

“The Pentagon press secretary, Rear Adm. John Kirby, said on Thursday: “We’ve been clear that counterterrorism operations remain a part of our mission in Afghanistan. We’ve also been clear that we will conduct these operations in partnership with the Afghans to eliminate threats to our forces, our partners and our interests.”

President Obama told Newslo: “This is not something the world should be surprised to see; it’s a completely natural extension of our geopolitical ambitions. The people of Iraq has long been our friend, and making Iraq a US federal state would simply be the next step in that relationship. We’ve always taken care of our own, and we plan on doing so now, too. Besides, there would be an added bonus to such a solution – our troops currently stationed in Afghanistan would soon be back on US soil; truth be told, it would be the youngest soil in possesion of the United States, but American soil nonetheless.”