'Significant' Afghan papers found

The search teams have met no resistance

The US military has announced finding "significant" documents at the scene of a fierce battle with Islamic militants in eastern Afghanistan.

International troops found the documents on Sunday in the Shah-e-Kot Valley, where al-Qaeda and Taleban forces held positions until March of this year.

They are significant documents

Captain Steven O'Connor
US military

American spokesman Captain Steven O'Connor said the soldiers believed the materials recovered were important, but he gave no further details.

US soldiers also mounted a search on the Pakistani border in recent days, recovering documents and other items including what appear to have been personal files.

Speaking at Bagram air base near Kabul, Captain O'Connor said that the documents found on Sunday appeared to be of "intelligence value".

Neither the international nor the US soldiers involved in the two missions had encountered hostile forces, he added.

On an earlier, six-day mission, US troops found an elaborate network of caves fortified with steel ceilings and concrete floors in the Zawar Khili Valley.

They also found ammunition, which they destroyed, along with undisclosed documents and other items.

The US holds al-Qaeda, the Islamic militant group led by Osama Bin Laden, responsible for the terror attacks on America on 11 September.

America led a military campaign to overthrow the Taleban regime in Afghanistan last year over its support for Bin Laden.