Tuesday 9 October 2001

telegraph.co.uk

SAS prepares the ground for next stage

By Michael Smith (Filed: 09/10/2001)

AS the second wave of bombings began last night, US and British special forces were already inside Afghanistan preparing for the next phase of the war against the Taliban and Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'eda network.

Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, warned that it was unlikely that the bombing raid alone would "rock the Taliban back on its heels". He refused to discuss any plans to put ground troops into Afghanistan.

But he admitted that the allies "were working with the elements on the ground that are interested in overthrowing and expelling" the Taliban.

US officials confirmed that ground forces, almost certainly members of the American Delta Force and the British SAS, are already on the ground working with the opposition.

The Northern Alliance is expected to be used as a proxy force in the follow-up operations, with its attacks on the Taliban co-ordinated with allied air controllers by special forces advisers.

Once the current bombing raids have accomplished their objective, airborne forces will be flown in to seize an airfield as a forward operations base.

The attacks on Sunday and last night on the Mazar-i-Sharif air base, which had been seen as a possible forward operations base, suggest that the chosen airfield is Bagram, north of Kabul.

This has two advantages. It is a large all-weather base which will be invaluable as winter sets in, and it is in territory already held by the Northern Alliance.

But it is close to the front line with the Taliban and may come under heavy bombardment as the allies try to force the line back.

Bagram is surrounded by mountains which is why the US 10th Mountain Division has been moved into the region, to seize the high ground to ensure that aircraft using it do not come under fire from hand-held Sam-7 or Stinger missiles.

After the current series of air raids have destroyed the Taliban's air defences and Bagram has been seized, combat engineers will be moved in to make the runways safe.

That will provide an airfield from which US Air Force F15 Strike Eagles and F16 Falcons, and possibly RAF Tornado GR4 ground attack aircraft, will be able to attack any target inside Afghanistan with impunity.

Their attacks will be designed to destroy the Taliban armed forces, smashing their installations and weaponry, making it impossible for them to operate and allowing the opposition to push further forward.

The Allies are also likely to keep a number of ground attack aircraft in the air above Afghanistan to allow them to react quickly to any Taliban response.

These are expected to include RAF Tornado GR4s and F18 Super Hornets and F14 Tomcats from the US aircraft carriers Enterprise and Carl Vinson, which are in the Gulf and the Arabian Sea.

They will need to be constantly refuelled which is why large numbers of US Air Force KC135 StratoTanker and KC10 Extender tanker aircraft have been moved to the region. The allied tanker aircraft, which will also include six RAF VC10 and TriStar Tanker aircraft moved to the region on Sunday.

At the same time, humanitarian aid will be dropped into areas that are not controlled by the Taliban as part of the effort to win over the Afghan people.

Other allied special forces teams will wait in bases inside Tajikistan and Uzbekistan practising snatch operations to seize key members of bin Laden's organisation.

The snatch teams are likely to include members of the US Delta Force, the SAS, the Australian SAS, the US Seal Team Six, and the Royal Navy's Special Boat Service.

Senior defence officials have warned that it may be some time before they find bin Laden himself.

-- Anonymous, October 09, 2001