Commander Sultan Ahmed, who has a force of about 60 fighters out of the 1,000 waiting to go into the battle, said the Taliban were surrounded and could not escape, particularly into Pakistan.
Pakistan has deployed paramilitary forces along a 100km stretch of its border with Paktia province. The border had been sealed although no escaping Taliban or al-Qaeda fighters had been caught, a senior official in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal belt said.
Haji Rahman, who had fled to Gardez with his six children from near the main village under attack, said life had become unbearable and dangerous.
"There are Taliban on one side and American bombing on the other side. What can we do?" he said.
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