Posted on 05/29/2002 3:55:57 AM PDT by kattracks
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The U.S. military has set up a new, high-tech command center at Afghanistan's main air base to oversee the eight-month war against al Qaeda and Taliban fighters, officials said on Wednesday.
Lieutenant-General Dan K. Mcneill, a three-star general, will formally take charge of all coalition operations in Afghanistan on Friday, and will report directly to the Tampa, Florida-based U.S. Central Command that oversees the Middle East and Central Asia.
The hunt for the remnants of the al Qaeda and Taliban believed to be hiding in the eastern Afghan mountains was previously led by a two-star general based in Bagram, to the north of Kabul, but working through Camp Doha, a U.S. base in Kuwait.
"We have been sent here to take the fight to the terrorists," Mcneill told reporters in a new high-tech joint operations center that members of his incoming 18th Airborne team have set up at Bagram.
"We are going against a very adaptive enemy, we are probably not going to see the enemy in a mass, they are in small groups," he said.
The former ruling Taliban were forced from power in December, some two months after U.S.-led forces launched a campaign to root out al Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, prime suspect in the September 11 attacks in the United States, and punish his Taliban protectors.
MONITORING BATTLE FROM AFAR
The Taliban and al Qaeda seem to have vanished from Afghanistan's rugged, arid landscape since the last large ground battle of the war in March when U.S. and Afghan forces took on several hundred in the Shah-i-Kot valley.
Military officials believe that the fighters have dispersed, and some may have slipped across Afghanistan's porous, largely unpatrolled border with Pakistan.
"We believe there are left in Afghanistan only small pockets of al Qaeda, focused in the east," Hilferty said.
The hunt for the militants across Afghanistan will be controlled from a huge air-conditioned tent where commanders, and their colleagues back in the United States, can monitor battles in real-time.
Scores of commanders sit in front of laptops while images of the ground are thrown up on giant screens.
"Knowledge is power, sitting here you get a complete operations picture, and everyone is looking at the same picture," said Lieutenant-Colonel Bryan Dyer.
International troops trained in mountain warfare, including the British Royal Marines, have mounted several missions in the craggy mountains of eastern Afghanistan, near the border with Pakistan, but have not reported any major engagements.
"They are there, but they are not coming out to fight," said one Marine.
International forces reported two mortar explosions near the troubled eastern city of Gardez, U.S. army spokesman Bryan Hilferty said.
The explosions on Tuesday afternoon were close to international force positions, he said.
Military officials expect militant attacks as the country prepares to choose a new transitional government at a Loya Jirga, or traditional grand assembly, starting on June 10.
"Typically, there could be car bombings, suicide bombings. The base (Bagram) is a target," Hilferty said.
Security had been tightened around the airfield where some 5,000 troops from 10 nations are based, he said.
Sheeesh!
Right out of the S.E. Asia playbook, circa 1965. From the chapter on measured responses.
Die Liberal Media, DIE!!!!
Speaking of funny things, How do I post a link to a fantastic picture I ran across???
http://www.madrobotstudios.com/warposter.jpg
I picked it up off a great website. Major-losers.com
It is well known the Al_queada monitors the NEWS to gain info.
A good way to train the enemy how to defeat you. The enemy will not be so gracious.
So they really are running the war from Tampa.
http://www.madrobotstudios.com/warposter.jpg
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