Pentagon beefs up war machinery

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, OCT. 3. With the U.S. Defence Secretary, Mr. Donald Rumsfeld, on a four-nation tour of West and Central Asia, as part of the final preparations for a strike against Afghanistan, the Pentagon is going about the routine of beefing up the war machinery in and around the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea. More than 2200 National Guards and Reserves have been called up for active duty bringing the total to over 22,000 as of date.

The administration is keen on keeping the Taliban militia guessing as to what is in the offing. Militarily, more than two aircraft carriers are in place, a third is on the way and a fourth is in the Meditterranean. More than 350 planes are available for combat, not to speak of the more heavy bombers in Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Elite commandos of Britain and the U.S. are believed to be on the ground in Afghanistan and in neighbouring Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Terrorist camps

AFP, AP report:

The Washington Times today reported quoting unidentified U.S. defence officials that intelligence operatives had identified 23 ``terrorist training camps'' in Afghanistan that had been targeted for military action. It said a small number of warplanes, tanks and anti- aircraft missile sites belonging to the Taliban had also been tagged for action by U.S. forces massing in South Asia, according to the officials. The training camps were reportedly located in northeast Afghanistan, under areas where the opposition Northern Alliance is active, as well as in the east and the south, near Kabul and the cities of Jalalabad and Khost.

In presenting its case against Osama bin Laden to U.S. allies, the Bush administration said some of the terrorists involved in the Sept. 11 attack had also been linked to the east Africa embassy bombings and the attack on the USS Cole. Two senior administration officials said this was part of a presentation made on Tuesday by the State Department counter-terrorism chief, Mr. Frank Taylor, to NATO allies in Brussels. The presentation was part of the U.S. campaign to garner international support for its contention that Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda organisation were responsible for the terror attacks. Several hijackers involved in the attacks three weeks ago had links to Al-Qaeda, the officials said.

The Secretary of State, Gen. Colin Powell, said information was sent out on Monday to a large number of nations which ``powerfully made the case'' against the Al-Qaeda organisation for the terrorist attacks three weeks ago.

``We traced the history of this organisation, its recent activities and events around the 11th - before and after. I think it's a persuasive case,'' he said, speaking with reporters after a meeting with the Greek Foreign Minister.

The NATO allies had conditioned material support for the U.S. under the NATO charter on convincing information that the attacks were directed from abroad.

U.S. request to NATO

A Reuters report from Brussels, quoting a NATO spokesman, said the U.S. presented a first list of requests for practical assistance to its NATO allies today in response to the attacks. He declined to give details except to say the requests were part of the campaign against international terrorism and it was up to each of the 18 other allies to decide how it could help.

``The United States made a collective request to NATO this morning at the North Atlantic Council meeting,'' the spokesman told reporters.

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Section  : International
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