Sunday, Mar 31, 2002
Sunday, Mar 31, 2002 |
| International | ||
|
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | International
``You can expect from mid-April us to be ready for deployment, whatever that may be. That isn't to say on the 15th of April that 600 men from 45 Commando are going out and start shooting Taliban,'' Royal Marines spokesman, Lt Col. Paul Harradine, told Reuters at Bagram Air Base just north of Kabul. Britain's largest combat mission since the 1991 Gulf War will comprise 600 to 700 Royal Marines from 45 Commando Group and supporting engineers, gunnery units and crews to keep their twin-rotor Chinook helicopters in the air. Lt Col. Harradine declined to speculate on what kinds of missions the mountain and rough weather specialists would undertake as part of the U.S.-led coalition's ``Operation Jacana'' against al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters in the rugged and mountainous terrain. ``We will not be bringing in all this equipment and people if there weren't a job to do,'' he said. A British military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, suggested that the Marines would join efforts by coalition and Afghan troops to find the remnants of the Taliban and al-Qaeda. ``I wouldn't see the tempo suddenly increasing. I expect the missions that will be allocated will not be dissimilar to what's actually happening on the ground at the moment,'' he said. ``We're an additional capability, we're part of the coalition.'' The 90-day mission specified by British Defence Secretary, Geoff Hoon, would have to be evaluated once the full fighting force arrives, the official said. ``Either we have done the job within the 90 days and we go home or there's the possibility that there may be a commitment of further troops beyond the 90-day period, but a second tranche,'' he said. Lt Col. Harradine said the first wave of 45 Commando Group, about 250 soldiers now aboard HMS Ocean in the Gulf, would arrive at Bagram by the middle or end of next week. ``It's all depending on how well the build goes. We can move them, we can bring them forward or drop them back accordingly,'' he said. ``Clearly we'd like to get them out here as soon as we can, but there's no point bringing them in until we've got the equipment to sustain them.'' The force aboard HMS Ocean includes six 105mm light guns and their crews. They will be followed by another 250 to 300 soldiers from Britain, he said. ``We've got our Chinook force of two at the moment and three more to arrive,'' he said. ``They'll be arriving over the next couple of days into Kabul, having been flown from the U.K. They will then be rebuilt at Kabul and flown up here two or three days after that.'' Once the British camp is established at Bagram, the engineers will switch to a combat role to clear mines and build bridges or impede the mobility of al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters by blowing up bridges and cutting off mountain tracks, Lt Col. Harradine said. About 150 ``enablers'' from the Royal Marines and the Royal Air Force are now setting up communications, ammunition dumps, fuel depots, catering and the tent city that will sustain the full British force. ``The area they're building a tented camp in was a minefield. They have cleared six mines while building it,'' he said. ``It is a dangerous place, Bagram.''
— Reuters
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
|
|
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | Home |
Copyright © 2002, The
Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu
|