November 27, 2001	Tuesday	Ramazan 11, 1422

LONDON, Nov 26: Britain took most of the 6,400 troops it had readied for service in Afghanistan off high alert on Monday, saying the situation there had stabilised.

But Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon highlighted the dangers of the volatile country when he revealed that four British soldiers had been wounded there — one of them seriously.

Hoon told parliament that a “small number” of British forces had been hurt, but then added on Sky Television: “I am delighted to say that all four are back in the United Kingdom receiving treatment.”

Prime Minister Tony Blair’s official spokesman confirmed the casualties and said Blair paid tribute to the “professionalism, courage and bravery of all our forces serving in Afghanistan, particularly those who have been injured”.

Hoon said the condition of one of the casualties was “more serious” but the other three were “less serious”. He said the more seriously wounded soldier was in a stable condition.

He declined to give any details of when or where the casualties were sustained, saying only that it “happened in operations that have been conducted recently”.

“British forces have been active on the ground inside Afghanistan for some time. Working closely with U.S. forces they have been engaged in a range of operation tasks in different parts of Afghanistan,” he said. News of the casualties came as Hoon announced that most of the 6,400 British troops who had been on 48-hour alert to go into Afghanistan were being stood down.

“Given the more encouraging position on the ground, I have today decided to relax the ‘notice to move’ of the bulk of these forces.”

Some “leading elements” of parachute and air assault units would remain on 48-hour notice to move, while the rest would “revert to their previous, still high, readiness state and will be able to move within one week”, Hoon told parliament.

Blair put the troops on 48-hour standby earlier this month amid expectations they would form a large part of ground forces to help speed up humanitarian relief in the war-torn country.

U-TURN FORCED BY US?: The reversal of that decision was seen as a U-turn forced on the British government by the United States, which is thought to want the military campaign to focus on defeating the Taliban and not to deploy large numbers of troops for aid efforts.

But Blair’s official spokesman dismissed suggestions that Washington — which has had unfailing support from Blair and his government in its war against terror — had snubbed Britain’s offer of troops.

He insisted the standing down of British troops was a response to a changing situation in Afghanistan, where U.S. bombing raids have helped opposition Northern Alliance forces to all but topple the Taliban regime.

When Blair put the troops on alert the situation in Afghanistan was much less stable, he said.

“Obviously when Kabul fell it was a period of great uncertainty and there were widespread predictions of a possible bloodbath,” he said. “That hasn’t materialised. Aid is getting in. The position on the ground is a lot more stable than anyone could have predicted.”

Hoon told parliament the decision to stand down the troops was a “measured response” which would enable Britain to sustain a “significant capability” over the long haul.—Reuters