NEW YORK, Oct 25: A top British military official said on Wednesday that ground troops may have to operate in Afghanistan for weeks at a time if they are to ferret out Osama bin Laden and destroy his network.

The raids envisaged by the British commander, Adm. Sir Michael Boyce, could be far longer and more risky than the raid carried out last Friday by United States commandos, who were on Afghan territory for only a few hours and encountered light resistance.

Admiral Boyce, a 58-year-old former submariner, has been closely linked with the planning aspect of the campaign against the Taliban and Osama.

He disclosed in the interview with the New York Times that he made an unpublicized visit last week to the Pentagon and to Tampa, Florida, to meet Gen Tommy R. Franks, the head of the United States central command, who is running America’s campaign in Afghanistan.

He said he talks several times a week by telephone to Gen. Richard B. Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and that British and American planners have been “bouncing ideas back and forth and having a good debate”.

While the United States military has been the overwhelming force during the first phase of the conflict, the British role is more vital now that the campaign is beginning to involve ground troops.

Admiral Boyce indicated that a variety of commando operations would probably be required to track down Osama bin Laden, his key lieutenants and Taliban leaders.

“The quick pinprick operation will be valid for certain targets where you have really good intelligence,” the admiral told the paper.

“Sometimes one might have to stay longer to achieve a proper reconnaissance of the area you are looking at.”

“It is conceivable that we could conduct an operation for a period of days and, perhaps, conceivably even weeks,” he added.

While the British government has yet to make a formal decision, the new phase of the conflict plays to Britain’s military strengths. Its commandos are among the most highly regarded in the world.

Its military has a long experience of battling guerillas in Northern Ireland, hunting down war crimes suspects in Bosnia and carrying out operations in nations like Sierra Leone, where British troops last year staged a daring dawn attack on the jungle base of renegade guerillas to rescue seven British soldiers held hostage.

Admiral Boyce said London was considering deploying special forces for the war in Afghanistan. They include the Special Air Service and Special Boat Service _ elite British commandos that are roughly parallel to the United States Delta Force and Navy Seals.

Other troops that could be inducted, he indicated, include British army paratroopers and Royal Marines of the Third Commando Brigade.

It is specially trained in mountain and winter warfare, the admiral noted. Despite this, he said, winter would make ground operations more difficult, especially in northern Afghanistan.

The Illustrious has been taking part in an exercise involving more than 20,000 British troops in Oman and could serve as a potential platform for Special Operations troops and helicopters, playing much the same role as the United States aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk.