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Russian Troops Enter Afghanistan
John L. Perry
Wednesday, October 03, 2001
Russian special forces are reported on the ground in Afghanistan, pinpointing targets for high-tech bombs to blast Osama bin Laden from his mountain lairs.
United States and British special forces as well have already been reported on similar missions there.
This would be the first time Russian troops had been re-introduced into Afghanistan since Soviet Union forces were run out of the country by Afghan fighters, then backed by the Central Intelligence Agency, a decade after the Soviet invasion in 1979.
It is known that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been turning over to the United States detailed Russian intelligence data about where bin Laden's secret redoubts and tunnels may be hidden.
Updating Long-Ago Information
However, much of that information dates back to the time when Soviet troops were at war in Afghanistan. Now, Russian special forces could well be scouting out those old reports, bringing them up to date.
According to the Independent newspaper published in the United Kingdom, the highly trained Russian troops are believed to have crossed the border into Afghanistan from the Republic of Tajikistan, once part of the Soviet Union.
That represents a major shift in positions of both Russia and Tajikistan, which in the early days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States were ruling out any military participation in America's war on terrorism.
Each had said they would not allow their territory to be used by U.S. or other foreign forces as a base from which to go after bin Laden's terrorist encampments in the mountains of Afghanistan.
Russia Getting Serious
Both have now relented on that point, but this is the first evidence Russia is willing actually to commit its troops to the war.
The Independent reported Wednesday that these U.S., British and Russian special forces are on "limited excursions" within Afghanistan, to locate precisely the positions where bin Laden and his al-Qa'ida terrorist-network comrades are holed up.
The British newspaper said the special forces are pinpointing sites also occupied by the Taliban militant Islamic sect that governs Afghanistan and has been sheltering bin Laden.
It said the purpose of putting those sites in the cross-hairs of the U.S. and British military is to enable their satellite-guided "smart bombs," capable of penetrating down through 25 feet of rock, to be directed at the terrorist hideouts.
Just How Impregnable?
One of the main targets, the Independent reported, could be a particular terrorist command center the Taliban has boasted is impregnable.
Over the weekend, the paper said, many of those specialized bombs, which can differentiate soil, rock and concrete, were moved from Britain to the Indian Ocean island base of Diego Garcia, where U.S. aircraft have been deployed.
While that was taking place, the Taliban was scrambling to beef up its military forces, in anticipation of an imminent U.S. air and ground assault.
But, according to the Independent, the Taliban is having serious trouble: Many of its fighters are now deserting their posts, and it has had to abandon "whole tracts of territory" it previously controlled around the city of Herat near the Afghan border with Iran.
This is of special significance to the Taliban, for among its enemies in the Islamic world is the government of Iran. Taliban forces had been stationed near the border to discourage any Iranian incursions. Now that buffer is eroding.
John L. Perry, a prize-winning newspaper editor and writer who served on White House staffs of two presidents, is senior editor for NewsMax.com.
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