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U.K. Troops Arrive in Afghanistan to Rout Remaining Fighters
Monday, March 25, 2002
(04:45)
By Heather Langan
Bloomberg

“Intelligence work carried out by the French and British, assisted by Afghans, has shown us that groups are looking to kidnap ISAF troops and use them to bargain for the release of Taliban fighters detained by the Americans,” Captain Pascal Ianni of the French contingent of the 4,800-strong ISAF told AFP.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Bloomberg
The first contingent of a U.K. force that will help U.S. troops flush out remaining al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters arrived in Afghanistan, the British Broadcasting Corp. and Agence France-Presse reported.

About 100 of the U.K.'s Royal Marines landed this morning at Bagram air base, near the capital, Kabul, the news services said, citing unidentified U.K. defense officials. They will be joined by about 1,600 comrades in the mission to find al-Qaeda and Taliban strongholds in the eastern Afghan mountains.

They have a “very specific purpose -- to root out the remaining al-Qaeda terrorists, and once that is done, our troops will leave,” U.K. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told the BBC.

The U.K. troops, trained in mountain warfare, were requested by the U.S., which last week completed Operation Anaconda. The 17- day air and ground assault on the enemy fighters was the biggest offensive in a campaign that began in October.
(More: Bloomberg News Source)
2002 © Bloomberg L.P.

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