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.
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