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Blair to Tell MPs (Members of Parliament) About Ground Action
Thursday, October 25, 2001
(5:15 PM)
By The Guardian Staff
& agencies

"We see the Northern Alliance as key players in the current crisis and we must improve our understanding of them and their leaders."

Details of British troops being earmarked for ground action in Afghanistan are expected to be announced in a Commons statement tomorrow.

Tony Blair's official spokesman told journalists this afternoon that the statement would be made “not today but very soon."

Meanwhile the defence secretary, Geoff Hoon, is travelling to Oman tonight to meet UK service men and women expected to join the military campaign against the Taliban.

"Obviously before you take judgments about troop deployments and asset deployments there is obviously a lot of detailed discussion between different administrations and military planners. It makes perfect sense," the spokesman said. "So I think you should take the passage of time as a determination to get this right."
(More: The Guardian News Source)
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001.

Dan