[A-List] Afghanistan: the blowback continues

[Keaney Michael]

British special forces drafted in for final push 

IAN BRUCE and CAMERON SIMPSON
The Herald, 11 March 2002 

      BRITISH special forces have been committed to
      the battle around Shah-e-Kot as the struggle for
      mountaintop bunkers manned by al Qaeda
      fighters enters its second week amid blizzards
      and gale-force winds.

      The men of the SAS and its Royal Marines'
      counterpart, the SBS, have been drafted in to
      help with the final push against diehard
      mujahideen dug in among the 10,000ft crags
      south-east of Gardez.

      More than 200 Royal Marines from the
      Arbroath-based 45 Commando on board the
      assault ship HMS Ocean off the Pakistani coast
      are also on alert to join Operation Anaconda
      within hours.

      The Royal Marines train in Norway for mountain
      and Arctic warfare, and would be a useful
      addition to forces fighting in freezing
      temperatures at high altitude.

      The US has already deployed hundreds of
      soldiers from its own 10th Mountain division.

      The UK special forces in Afghanistan had been
      preparing for new missions elsewhere in the
      country, widely believed to involve the hunt for
      Mullah Mohammed Omar, the fugitive Taliban
      leader, and had initially been excluded from the
      Shah-e-Kot action.

      But US commanders badly underestimated the
      strength and resolve of the al Qaeda and
      Taliban troops, and have now had to call for
      allied reinforcements as the weather hampers
      bomber and helicopter operations.

      More than 200 Australian, Norwegian, French,
      Danish and German commandos are already
      engaged in either direct combat missions or in
      support of them by evacuating casualties and
      bringing up food and ammunition.

      The US forces have suffered eight deaths and
      more than 40 have been wounded in the battle
      so far. At least two Chinook transport
      helicopters have been destroyed and five
      Apache gunships have been damaged by
      enemy fire.

      Between 600 and 750 al Qaeda fighters have
      been killed so far - more than three times the
      original US estimate for the entire enemy force -
      and up to 300 are still holding out.

      Hamid Karzai, Afghan interim leader, said
      yesterday that Zahir Shah, the frail 87-year-old
      former king, would return home in a few days
      and had an "important role" in the country.

      Zahir Shah is seen by many in the international
      community as a symbolic figure vital to
      Afghanistan's future, as the war-torn country
      attempts the transition from the hardline Islamic
      rule of the now vanquished Taliban to
      democracy.

full article at:
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/archive/11-3-19102-0-42-2.html

Michael Keaney
Mercuria Business School
Martinlaaksontie 36
01620 Vantaa
Finland

michael.keaney at mbs.fi