http://www.boston.com/news/daily/29/attacks_base.htm

Pentagon considering setting up a base inside Afghanistan

By Robert Burns, Associated Press, 10/29/01

WASHINGTON -- The United States is considering setting up a base inside Afghanistan from which commandos, and possibly conventional ground troops, would launch missions against Taliban and terrorist targets, defense officials said Monday.

This option, which Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld hinted at in a Pentagon news conference, could indicate the U.S. military is planning more aggressive moves against the Taliban, the Islamic militia that rules most of Afghanistan and harbors Osama bin Laden.

More than three weeks of aerial bombardment by Navy fighter-bombers flying from aircraft carriers in the Arabian Sea and by Air Force bombers and fighters based hundreds of miles from Afghanistan have neutralized the Taliban's air defenses but have not yet rooted out the terrorists.

Rumsfeld said when the bombing began Oct. 7 that air power alone would not be enough to win the battle in Afghanistan and that special operations forces would play a key role. In the only acknowledged mission by special operations forces so far, more than 100 Army Rangers parachuted onto an airfield in southern Afghanistan from an MC-130 aircraft on Oct. 20 and left after several hours.

Troops on the ground will likely be needed to capture or kill bin Laden and other leaders of his al-Qaida network, but past wars in Afghanistan -- notably the former Soviet Union's failure after 10 years of fighting -- have shown the high cost of a conventional large-scale ground invasion.

Rumsfeld was asked about a USA Today report that said U.S. forces may soon establish a forward base in Afghanistan that would support 200 to 300 commandos. The newspaper, quoting an unidentified defense official, said the base might be in northern Afghanistan.

"You're asking if we're considering doing something additional in various ways," Rumsfeld said. "Needless to say, that's our job -- to consider much different things, and we do." He said he had nothing to announce.

A senior defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said U.S. planners were considering many possibilities, including the idea of a forward operating base in Afghanistan and other ways of using ground forces.

President Bush on Monday was asked whether Americans are prepared to see a large number of ground troops committed in Afghanistan. He said the public knows the administration is "steady, determined and patient." He said he appreciates advice from Congress, but would not say whether grounds troops are going in.

"I'm pleased with the progress we're making and I'm really pleased the American people are patient," he said.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on Sunday the administration should be thinking about deploying a large-scale ground force in Afghanistan.

"We're going to have to put troops on the ground," McCain said. "We're going to have to put them in force. And although they will not be permanent, they are going to have to be very, very significant."

Asked about using ground forces, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee said he put his trust in the Pentagon officials making the decisions.

"They're doing it right," Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., said. "I find no fault with the military efforts. The northern alliance, the armchair strategists, they don't need to tell anyone what to do. They know what to do. That's why they're generals and admirals. They're doing it right, from what I see."

The Pentagon has acknowledged that it has about 1,000 members of the Army's 10th Mountain Division at a base in Uzbekistan, on Afghanistan's northern border, and a small number of Army special operations troops may be in northern Afghanistan to act as liaisons with the northern alliance forces fighting the Taliban.

The only other U.S. ground troops known to be in the area are a contingent of 2,100 Marines aboard Navy ships in the Arabian Sea.

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2001