Troops from Britain, France, Japan, Turkey ready for Afghan duty

By BETH GARDINER
Associated Press Writer

LONDON – British troops were on duty Friday at an airport in Afghanistan to support humanitarian relief efforts. France sent its first contingent of soldiers to help secure northern Afghanistan for the delivery of humanitarian aid, and Japan and Turkey had troops on standby.

About 100 British troops landed at Bagram airport north of Kabul on Thursday to secure the airfield, Britain's Ministry of Defense said.

"As troops go in, and I suspect a number of troops from different countries will go in over a period, .... they will have specific tasks," Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said in an interview with British Broadcasting Corp. radio.

"The task, for example, of the 100 or so British troops who arrived yesterday is to secure the airport and make it safe for humanitarian and diplomatic missions amongst many other things."

Up to 4,000 British forces are on standby to go to the region. They would likely be assigned to clear the way for aid agencies to take badly needed supplies to hundreds of thousands of refugees.

Conditions in much of Afghanistan have been chaotic as the northern alliance and local commanders take control of regions where the Taliban regime quickly withdrew.

American defense officials say it's crucial to secure air bases formerly held by the Taliban, which began its sudden retreat last week. U.S.-led military strikes targeted the regime for sheltering Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

France, Germany, Turkey and Japan also had troops on the way or on the ready Friday.

Fifty-eight French soldiers were due to arrive in the northeastern Afghanistan city of Mazar-e-Sharif over the weekend after stopping first in Turkey and Uzbekistan, a French Defense Ministry spokesman said. A military jet carrying 30 troops took off from the Istres air base in southern France midday Friday.

A spokesman said the unit consisted primarily of paratroopers and engineers whose initial mission would be to restore the city's airport for use by aid workers.

In Germany, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder won a vote of confidence in the lower house of parliament to secure military help for the coalition in what would be Germany's largest military foray outside Europe since World War II.

Lawmakers supported Schroeder's motion to pledge 3,900 troops to the U.S.-led campaign.

The promise does not involve ground troops or participation in airstrikes. Schroeder instead offered special forces, ships, a medical evacuation unit and armored vehicles equipped to detect nuclear, chemical and germ warfare for an initial one-year deployment to an area extending from northeast Africa to central Asia.

Top advisers to Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi approved a plan to send up to 1,500 troops, a flotilla of warships and a small squadron of planes to support U.S. forces around Afghanistan.

Forces on the move will include three destroyers, two supply ships, a minesweeper, six transport planes and two multipurpose planes. The first troops will be on the way "within days," said government spokesman Tsutomu Himeno.

The mission – mostly focusing on transporting fuel and other supplies – is to end within six months. Japan's forces will also conduct surveillance and aid in refugee relief.

It's the first time since the end of World War II that Japan will provide military support for forces engaged in combat, and required passage of a special law.

Turkish newspapers reported Friday that officials there have put as many as 3,000 soldiers on standby for a possible international peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan.

Turkey, a close U.S. ally, has already promised to deploy 90 special forces troops to train anti-Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, and has also offered to send peacekeepers if needed.

Indonesia and New Zealand have also offered to send peacekeepers, and U.S. officials say Bangladesh and Jordan are also likely participants.

AP-WS-11-16-01 1048EST