UK commandos take over base near Kabul: Germany to send 4,000 troops
PARIS, Nov 16: Washington’s three main allies in Europe stepped up their commitment to the war in Afghanistan on Friday, setting in motion major troop deployments despite doubts over the precise role of their forces.
More than 100 British commandos, backed by US special forces, secured control of an airbase outside Kabul to act as a bridgehead for thousands more crack US and British troops.
An advance party of French soldiers took off in two planes from a southern French airbase destined for Uzbekistan, where they were to be picked up by US choppers and ferried into Mazar-i-Sharif.
And Germany’s Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder put his career on the line to secure narrow parliamentary approval to send almost 4,000 soldiers to what could be Germany’s first combat mission since the end of World War II.
The three largest western European powers, members of the NATO alliance, have stood shoulder to shoulder with the United States since it launched a “war against terrorism”.
But Friday’s deployment of ground troops is the most risky military adventure yet launched by the Europeans in the campaign, and came amid some confusion over the tasks reserved for them on the ground.
London has sent out mixed messages on whether the latest troops will join British forces already fighting the Taliban alongside US forces or simply provide security for humanitarian aid shipments.
Prime Minister Tony Blair’s spokesman said their primary task was to assess the situation on the ground, secure the airport, and see how it could be used for future UN and humanitarian missions.
“One of their jobs will be to make an assessment... and reconnaissance in relation to the conditions for any future deployment.”
But he stressed: “You are going to have problems along the way which you’re going to have to face up to and deal with.”
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said allied forces were alongside US commandos fighting in southern Afghanistan.
“They’re killing Taliban,” he said.
When Britain’s’ ministry of defence announced on Wednesday that troops were being put on 48-hour standby, it said they would not become involved in offensive operations.
A few hours later, Blair told parliament he could not rule out their use in “offensive frontline operations”.
The French defence ministry also emphasized the humanitarian side of the mission.
It said the advance party of some 60 troops — staff officers, engineers and marine parachutists — were the vanguard of a force which would deploy around Mazar-i-Sharif to “create favourable conditions for the work of international and non-governmental organizations”.
Asked how the mission could develop, Colonel Christian Baptiste, a spokesman for the French general staff, said simply: “We are flexible and pragmatic.”
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder won a parliamentary vote of confidence on Friday giving him free rein to send up to 3,900 soldiers, including 100 special forces commandos to join the US-led operation in and around Afghanistan.
The United Nations peace plan for Afghanistan foresees some kind of stability force, whether a united Afghan force, a multinational force with UN endorsement or a full UN peacekeeping operation.
But no plans have been finalized, and the main faction present in Kabul, the Northern Alliance, has said it sees no need for outside intervention.
“There is no need for a UN force at the moment,” Younis Qanooni, interior minister in the Alliance government, said.
“First we must discuss a package of peace measures, within which we could talk about the eventual need to send peacekeeping troops by the United Nations,” he added.—AFP
