US-led coalition masses forces, hardware for anti-terror strike
( 2001-09-26 10:55 ) (7 )

The United States and Britain have deployed thousands of troops and an array of military hardware as they prepare to strike back following the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington which killed thousands.

In their quest to hit the suspected mastermind behind the attacks, Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden who is reportedly sheltered in Afghanistan, the transatlantic allies have been able to build on sizeable forces already in the Middle East.

They include troops and planes based in Gulf states since the 1991 Gulf War and forces at a US base on the British Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia.

Here is a breakdown of the forces reported to be available to military planners at the Pentagon and Whitehall as they plot their attack.

United States

Air Force B-52 and B-1 bombers were in place at undisclosed locations ready for a military strike against Afghanistan as US forces continued to stream overseas as part of a phased military buildup.

Still in the pipeline were support forces and equipment, as well as some additional aircraft -- but no major air force weapons systems, US defense officials said.

The carriers USS Carl Vinson in the Gulf and the USS Enterprise in the Arabian Sea each have about 75 aircraft, including F/A-18 and F-14 fighter aircraft and EA-6B electronic jamming planes. The carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt was on its way to the region with a similar mix of aircraft.

The naval task forces include warships capable of firing Tomahawk cruise missiles, which were last used in Afghanistan in 1998 against bin Laden training camps in a failed bid to kill the exiled Saudi-born millionaire and his lieutenants.

The United States also has about 175 combat aircraft at bases in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait enforcing no fly zones in southern Iraq, including fighters and attack aircraft, officials said.

US military aircraft were reported to have landed in Uzbekistan over the weekend, Kazakhstan's president offered US forces access to its bases and airspace, and Tajikistan said it was "ready to cooperate" in the US fight against terrorism.

How large a ground force Washington intends to deploy is still in question. US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Tuesday most force deployments would be conducted out of sight.

A senior defense official last week said army troops from the 10th Mountain Division in Fort Drum, New York and from the Third Army Corps in Fort Hood, Texas had received deployment orders.

But a spokesman for the Third Army Corps, which includes a heavy infantry division and an armored division, said its troops had received no deployment orders.

The United States also gave its operation a new name -- "Enduring Freedom." The name replaces "Infinite Justice," which was deemed offensive to Muslims.

Britain

The number of British forces in the region has been vastly increased by Operation Swift Sword II, the biggest British deployment since the 1982 Falklands War.

Ministry of Defence officials say the operation, a joint training exercise with Omani forces, was planned long before the September 11 attacks, but the British press reports the forces will be available if needed.

Some 18 warships have passed through the Suez Canal en route for the exercise, which was to involve some 23,000 troops -- including elite Royal Marines -- backed with tanks, and seven Tornado attack jets.

Britain also has around 50 warplanes based in the Gulf and Turkey.

British special forces are expected to play a key role in any ground attack on Afghanistan, and 750 elite troops from the Special Air Service and the Special Boat Service are reported to be on alert.

Reports in a number of British newspapers said that SAS troopers and spies from the MI6 foreign intelligence agency were already deployed inside Afghanistan, working with opposition forces opposed to the ruling Taliban.

Other possible allies

The Afghan opposition Northern Alliance has offered its 15,000 strong force, already locked in civil war with the Taliban, as part of the US-led coalition.

US officials have expressed interest but have not confirmed plans to work with the experienced guerrilla fighters.

Several British and US newspapers have made unconfirmed reports that French special forces and Foreign Legionnaires or Germany's KVK commandos could take part in the operation.

Britain's Sunday Times reported that Russian Spetznaz special forces, including veterans of the former Soviet Union's war in Afghanistan, could also take part.

The NATO-led Stabilization Force in Bosnia announced support to the global coalition against terrorism. Leaders of the force would not say what kind of support would be provided, but it would be judged on a "case-by-case" basis.

The Japanese military may give logistical support to the United States in its campaign against terrorists but will not venture near any fighting, a government spokesman said.

The spokesman denied a report in the conservative Sankei Shimbun newspaper that the United States had asked Japan to help transport wounded US soldiers from the frontlines to US medical facilities in Japan.

Airspace

Uzbek officials said that US planes carrying surveillance equipment had landed near Tashkent, north of Afghanistan, where a flight of heavily armed attack helicopters are still deployed following joint Uzbek-NATO exercises.

Pentagon officials have not confirmed this report.

A number of other countries have offered their airspace, including central Asian former Soviet state Kazakhstan, the Ukraine and NATO member Greece, Bulgaria and Slovakia, two aspiring NATO members, and one of the alliance's newest members, the Czech Republic.

Russia and Turkmenistan are said to have offered the use of their airspace for a "humanitarian" US mission.

Senior lawmaker Gennady Raikov said after a meeting with President Vladimir Putin that Russia was prepared to offer "air corridors" but would not send its own troops back to Afghanistan.

President Saparmurat Niyazov of Turkmenistan said that the country was ready to offer the United States ground bases and air space for "humanitarian" missions but would remain neutral in any US-led conflict in the region.