Allies: Taliban, al-Qaida fighters may change tactics

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Posted 8:47AM on Wednesday, April 3, 2002

BAGRAM, AFGHSANISTAN - Coalition forces are expecting a shift toward smaller attacks directed at Western targets inside Afghanistan as Taliban and al-Qaida fighters regroup after Operation Anaconda, a British intelligence officer said Wednesday. The last U.S. offensive showed the Taliban and al-Qaida operatives may need to reassess their tactics and move more toward attacks in a "variety of terrorist styles," said Maj. Tony De Reya, an intelligence officer with the Marines. That could mean hit-and-run raids on troops or bomb attacks. The forecast was based on theory, rather than intelligence about specific attacks on soldiers, journalists or local leaders. "The threat to Westerners here is very real," De Reya said. De Reya spoke at Bagram Air Base, where about 110 of Britain's elite Royal Marines landed early Wednesday - part of Britain's first overseas combat deployment since the Gulf War a decade ago. Shielded by darkness, the first wave of the 45 Commando Royal Marines came pouring off a hulking C-130 transport plane at Bagram, about an hour's drive north of the capital Kabul. The Royal Marines, whose base is in Arbroath, Scotland, are trained in mountain warfare and will join the U.S.-led coalition hunting pockets of al-Qaida and Taliban fighters hunkered down in Afghanistan's rugged terrain. The troops will spend about two weeks training and getting used to the altitude at Bagram before joining any combat operations, British officials said. They joined about 200 advance troops sent ahead to set up the camp. The British force should number about 1,700 soldiers by the week's end, said Lt. Col. Paul Harradine, a marines spokesman. The unit arrived here on the 20th anniversary of the Falklands War, in which the 45 Commando Royal Marines fought. Their arrival had been delayed so that mine-clearing teams could make sure their camp was safe. The Bagram area is considered one of the most heavily mined areas of the world and engineers have been working day and night to clear it. British troops already make up the bulk of peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan, and special operations units have been in Afghanistan since the early days of the war. British forces have also participated in reconnaissance and air-to-air refueling flights. Adam Ingram, Britain's minister for the armed forces, was to visit the Marines at Bagram later Wednesday.