UK to send 1,000 ground troops to Afghanistan

Times of India ^ | 10-23-2001 | Times of India

[Brian_Baldwin]

UK to send 1,000 ground troops to Afghanistan: Reports

The Times of India, Tuesday, October 23, 2001

LONDON: Britain is to send about 1,000 troops to join the US-led ground war in Afghanistan, media outlets reported on Tuesday.

Citing senior defence officials, the British Broadcasting Corp. said about 600 Royal Marine commandos and several hundred special forces personnel - currently taking part in a military exercise in Oman - would be deployed to join the ground assault.

Four British ships participating in the exercise, which ends this weekend, also will stay behind to join the Afghan campaign, the BBC said. The Daily Telegraph and Guardian newspapers carried similar reports on Tuesday.

The government has not announced whether British troops will join the ground campaign, but says it remains an option. Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon said Monday that British forces were ready to move "at very short notice." "No specific decisions have been taken but clearly we are exploring all of the possibilities," Hoon said. "I'm not going to put a time-scale on that.

We always have troops ready to go at very short notice," he told British Broadcasting Corp. radio. The chiefs of Britain's Royal Navy and Royal Air Force were reported Monday to be drawing up plans for long-term military involvement in the war against terrorism. "I have taken the prime minister at his word that it will go on for years, because I think it will," Navy Rear Admiral Alan West told Britain's Press Association in Muscat, Oman, during the military exercises.

"I have looked at how to maintain levels of commitment for years." Air Chief Marshal Sir John Dey reportedly added: "We are into the long haul, but it will depend on what the UK government decides it wants to do as its contribution."

( AP )

[patriciaruth]

I'll bet a lot of special forces groups in many countries are itching to get in on this fight so they can test their mettle and their training.

I heard the Swedish Special Forces are also joining the coalition.