Posted on 06/24/2002 7:47:27 AM PDT by Stand Watch Listen
BAGRAM, Afghanistan — With British forces preparing to leave Afghanistan, American troops can expect more work and possibly more combat operations, U.S. military officials said Friday at the largest coalition base in the country.American troops also got word that their mission could last anywhere from one to four years, with combat operations ending within 18 months and giving way to peacekeeping and nation-building.
"[Lt. Gen. Dan K.] McNeill has said that he sees combat operations coming to a close between one year and 18 months from now," said Army spokesman Col. Roger King, referring to the commander of all American forces in Afghanistan.
King went on to clarify that remarks made earlier this week in Fayetteville, N.C., by Marine Lt. Gen. Michael P. DeLong indicated a possible four-year presence by peacekeeping or nation-building forces.
DeLong is deputy commander in chief of U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla.
"The general obviously had information to the point where he felt comfortable making that announcement on the record," said King, the spokesman at Bagram. "General McNeill sees his mission as a combat mission, and that is why he has the time line that he does."
King also praised the British troops after the British government announced Thursday that 1,700 Royal Marines will begin withdrawing by early July. Around 7,000 Americans are currently deployed in the Afghan campaign, with another 5,000 troops from other nations making up the coalition.
"They have been a vital and viable part of the coalition," King said Friday. "There was never a mission we gave them that wasn’t accomplished."
But British soldiers, and some of their American counterparts, have expressed increased frustration at the lack of enemy to engage. One 100-man unit, Zulu Company of the 45 Commando Group, has not fired upon an enemy since arriving in the country in April.
Even operating in a region near the Pakistan border, where U.S. officials suspect almost 1,000 al-Qaida and Taliban holdouts have fled and continue to operate, the soldiers have not come across the enemy.
U.S. forces will be used to plug the holes the British forces will leave, officials said, with some troop movement possible from bases in Bagram and Kandahar.
Military officials pointed to two weapon seizures on Thursday as evidence that the overall mission is ongoing and is successfully "denying the enemy sanctuary."
U.S. Special Forces teams operating in the Paktia province uncovered two caches that included anti-aircraft guns, dismantled howitzers and numerous mortar and rocket rounds, American officials said Friday.
In the first instance, village elders voluntarily pointed out the weapons stash to U.S. troops. In the second case, Afghan military forces found the weapons and turned them over to American forces.
On Thursday, the British under secretary of state for defense traveled to Bagram Air Base to make the announcement that the Royal Marines would head home.
"As far as I’m concerned and the Ministry of Defense is concerned, it has been a strong success," said Lewis Moonie, speaking at a news conference with the British chief of defense staff.
Moonie said the decision was in keeping with a three-month deployment time line and had nothing to do with the success or failure of missions.
Reaction from regular U.S. Army troops was muted.
"It doesn’t really matter to me what the Brits or anyone else say they’re doing," said Spc. John Nestor, of the 101st Airborne Division. "All I’m focused on is doing my job and doing it until the boss says I don’t have to anymore.
"If that means I have to come back in a year as part of some peacekeeping force, then that’s what the job takes."
British forces also announced they were handing over control of the Kabul-based peacekeeping mission to Turkey. Turkey will send an 1,400 troops to join its 270 already on the ground to perform that mission.
Canada also has said it will bring home its 800 ground troops this summer, ending a six-month mission. But Germany voted to extend its participation of 1,000 troops through December.
U.S. officials say that 35 countries have a presence in the coalition at Central Command headquarters in Tampa. Some nations are secretly contributing special operations forces but do not want that publicly known, King said.
They missed the bolded section...
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