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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (41447)	11/4/2001 4:14:03 AM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50167

Sunday Times reporting that Thousands of troops in big Afghan push 'within weeks' James Clark, David Cracknell and Tony Allen-Mills Washington BRITISH and American forces are about to mount the first significant ground offensive of the war in Afghanistan in an attempt to establish a "humanitarian bridgehead" that would bring winter relief to hundreds of thousands of refugees. Royal Marines and British special forces are expected to join soldiers from the US 10th Mountain Division in securing a corridor from Uzbekistan through enemy positions in northern Afghanistan. Senior British officials said thousands of troops would act "in support" of Northern Alliance forces ranged against the Taliban regime. The aim is to establish a forward base from which to distribute clothing, food and medicine that cannot be safely dropped from the air. Under plans confirmed by two cabinet ministers yesterday, ground troops with heavy air support would drive out Taliban forces between the Uzbek border and positions near the Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif. Officials in London and Washington anticipate casualties from ground combat across miles of plains and mountains. They hope the Northern Alliance will do most of the fighting, but accept that elite coalition forces will guide in airstrikes and may have to take on Taliban units at close quarters. The offensive may lead to the creation of tented refugee camps inside Afghanistan that would be protected by coalition troops. A senior cabinet minister said: "We have got three weeks to do this before the winter really sets in." Earlier plans to forge a multiple "air bridge" from Uzbekistan across the Afghan border are said to have been abandoned as too dangerous. Military planners warned that "every hill, mountain, hillock and bump" along the route would have to be cleared for fear of Taliban missile or rocket attacks on transport aircraft. The coalition will have the advantage of air superiority. The deployment of advanced JSTARS radar-carrying aircraft will also enable planners to monitor enemy movements over a wide radius. With its high levels of fitness and training, the Mountain Leaders section of Britain's Royal Marines, successor to the Falklands-era Mountain and Arctic Warfare Cadre, is likely to form the vanguard of any higher altitude reconnaissance. Once the ground is secure, the operation will begin to relieve refugees. "We have to do this because, first, there could be a humanitarian catastrophe and, second, it is politically necessary," said a senior official in Washington. By switching the war's focus away from the bombing campaign, which has resulted in frequent claims of civilian casualties over the past four weeks, American and British officials hope to reassure wavering Muslim allies and bolster public support for the war. The experience of ground operations in a humanitarian cause will also serve the coalition well in full-scale future offensives against the Taliban. "An important part of the military operation is to look for ways of entering humanitarian aid into the country," said Geoff Hoon, the defence secretary. The initiative emerged as Osama Bin Laden, the prime suspect in the September 11 terror attacks in America, unleashed a new broadside against the United Nations, which is expected to become heavily involved in Afghanistan as the refugee operation unfolds. In a video statement sent to the Al-Jazeera television station in the Gulf, Bin Laden said any Arab who supported the UN was an infidel, and any Muslim who backed President George W Bush was an apostate. "In essence this war is a religious war," he said. "This is a matter of belief and ideology." Mohammed Tayyab Agha, secretary and adviser to Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban leader, warned yesterday that the Taliban had no intention of compromising on handing over Bin Laden. "If we die, or defeat the Americans, both ways are our victory," Tayyab said. The difficulties of a ground offensive were underlined by atrocious weather conditions that caused a crash landing by a US special forces helicopter in northern Afghanistan on Friday. Four crew were injured, one seriously, when the MH-53 Pave Low went down in freezing rain. All were rescued. US Navy F-14 fighter jets were immediately dispatched from the USS Theodore Roosevelt in the Arabian Sea to destroy the helicopter and the secret equipment on board. Despite the strength of the Taliban's resistance, American and British planners believe they have no choice but to press on with a humanitarian mission. "There is already a ground offensive going on with the Northern Alliance," said a British minister. "It is a question of better directing that and making it far more effective." As well as a ground offensive from Uzbekistan, American officials expect to provide further relief from bases inside Pakistan. There are even suggestions that Iran might allow American troops to funnel supplies across Afghanistan's western border, where thousands of refugees are trapped. In Washington, Joshua Spero, who helped to co-ordinate relief operations for the joint chiefs of staff during the Kosovo conflict, said the operation would have to be carried out under "serious warlike conditions". But it would provide invaluable military experience. "And the operation will send a whole different message to that currently being captured by the Islamic world," he said. Spero expects Turkish and Russian troops to be involved in relief missions. If a land corridor can be established and protected, US and British forces could operate inside Afghanistan throughout the winter without needing the large number of fixed bases that proved vulnerable to attack during the decade of Soviet occupation that began in 1979. The scale of the challenge is underlined by a report in this week's New Yorker magazine that last month's special forces raid on an Omar complex in Kandahar met with much fiercer resistance than the Pentagon has disclosed. Seymour Hersh, an investigative journalist, reports that 12 members of the elite US Delta Force counter-terrorist unit were wounded, three of them seriously. The ferocity of the Taliban response "scared the crap out of everyone", a senior military officer is quoted as saying. Both humanitarian and military issues will be high on the agenda when Tony Blair meets Bush at the White House this week. Later this week Bush will lead a diplomatic and public relations charge aimed at bolstering support for the war.