Posted on 03/24/2004 5:51:25 PM PST by mrsmith
THE United States is seeking Russian help to launch military action against the bases of the wanted Islamic terrorist Osama bin Laden and other extremist groups in Afghanistan.
According to counter-terrorist experts in Washington, the Clinton administration has determined that he was behind the bombing of the destroyer Cole last month in Aden, in which 17 American sailors died.
A counter-terrorism expert in Washington said America was seeking help from Russia and a number of central Asian states in launching reprisal raids against Bin Laden's bases in Afghanistan. Intense diplomatic activity was also under way around the region to garner support for a US-Russian initiative to impose further sanctions on the Taliban, the extremist Islamic movement in Afghanistan, through the United Nations Security Council.
But agreement for joint military action has been hard to reach. The American expert said: "Coalition building is important, but it's proving difficult." The United States believes it has enough evidence to link bin Laden, a Saudi, to the Cole attack.
American and British intelligence have been working intensively to uncover evidence against the terrorist planners since that incident and bomb attacks against British targets in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. In the most recent, a British engineer, Christopher Rodway, was killed by a car bomb.
The expert said: "What is now being determined is if bin Laden specifically set up the operation, provided the explosives and gave the direct order for the bombing, or if he just gave the order some months ago and local groups carried it out."
But Washington is unlikely to make any public disclosure until it initiates a military strike against bin Laden. An American diplomat involved in the investigation said: "Retaliation is inevitable, nobody gets away with killing 29 Americans."
Twelve Americans were killed in 1998, when bin Laden's forces bombed two embassies in Africa, resulting in a missile strike on his camps in Afghanistan. Although American officials are wary about discussing the military options, counter-terrorism experts in Washington say Russia is being pressed to co-operate in any military action.
Moscow is also worried about developments in Afghanistan, where the Taliban runs most of the country. Russia has close political and military ties to the former states of Soviet central Asia, which feel threatened by the Afghans and the rebel movements based on their territory.
America hopes to use ties established under Nato's Partnership for Peace agreement with Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan as part of any multilateral force. Commandos from the three central Asian states are training with US Special Forces in Montana and Alaska. But all the Central Asian states are nervous of encouraging Russian influence in the region and of provoking Taliban revenge attacks against their territory. More than 100 troops from the three states have died in fighting with Afghan-backed Uzbek exiles.
Unlike in 1998, when American ships in the Gulf fired 80 cruise missiles into Afghanistan, the United States is now expected to attack from bases in central Asia. It would need access to bases in Uzbekistan, particularly the Soviet-era air base in Tashkent and the military base in Termez, on the border with Afghanistan.
Experts say the United States would plan to bomb over several days and even perhaps organise commando raids on key locations from Termez . Most of the targeted locations, which include other terrorist groups, are based in northern Afghanistan - in Mazar-i-Sharif, Kunduz and Taloqan - from where they are fighting for the Taliban in its offensive against the anti-Taliban forces led by Ahmad Shah Massoud.
But any talk about the precise targets of American forces should be treated with caution. Bin Laden and his Afghan hosts will be expecting an American response and Washington will hope to create uncertainly in the minds of its enemies.
Likely targets include units of bin Laden's 55 Arab Brigade, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which wants to topple the Uzbek regime and is funded by bin Laden, Chechen militants wanted by Russia and Kashmiri groups wanted by India. Several Pakistani radical groups are also working with bin Laden. He is reported to have moved his headquarters from Kandahar to an inaccessible mountainous area.
I don’t think we have the right sense of urgency within the government for those problems, and I don’t think we have the right structure within the government. And I don’t know quite what the solution is."
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