US forces in rugged, arid Afghanistan commanded by leaders in Florida

By DEB RIECHMANN
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – U.S. forces in Afghanistan are commanded from a base in Tampa, Fla., a balmy setting more than 7,700 miles from Kabul.

The Central Command, one of nine U.S. military commands covering different parts of the world, evolved from a smaller unit based at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa – partly because of past problems in Afghanistan.

The volatile nature of the region makes it tough for the command to move closer to the action, so it has stayed in Florida. The command is responsible for U.S. security interests in 25 nations that stretch from the Horn of Africa through the Arabian Gulf into Central Asia.

"If you had to put your finger on the hottest part of the globe, it would likely come down in CENTCOM's domain," Secretary of State Colin Powell wrote in his 1995 autobiography.

Lt. Col. Chip Compton, a Central Command spokesman, said moving the command has been discussed. "Historically, it's not been politically feasible," he said. "My guess is that the countries feel uncomfortable having a full-time American presence."

Headquarters work primarily focuses on administrative duties, so a command's base may not matter as much in warfare that relies on satellites and lasers.

The Central Command's leader, Gen. Tommy Franks, is far from isolated from his troops. The highest-ranking U.S. military officer to go inside Afghanistan in the course of the war, he began last week in Uzbekistan, met at Bagram air base near Kabul, the Afghan capital, with top northern alliance officials, then headed for a tour of the Persian Gulf region.

Central Asia and west-central Florida could not be more different.

Afghanistan, with its mountains, caves, and dusty lowlands, is landlocked. The Central Command is set along the warm waters of Tampa Bay. MacDill is shaded by palms and has a golf course frequented by generals.

Problems in Afghanistan are partly responsible for the creation of the Central Command.

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran led President Carter in 1980 to set up the Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force, under the U.S. Readiness Command at MacDill. The task force was designed to respond quickly to crises and project American power across the Middle East and Africa.

In 1983, President Reagan converted it to a full, permanent unified command covering an area twice the size of the continental United States. Encompassing Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Gulf states, former Soviet republics and parts of Africa, it contains vast energy resources and key air and sea lines.

The first leader of the Central Command, Gen. Robert Kingston, had to overcome skepticism about the command's ability to run military operations so far from its base. Some of his questioning colleagues were in the European Command, which had a headquarters in Germany and available forces much closer to the region, command historian Jay E. Hines said.

The same doubts greeted the command's second leader, Gen. George Crist, who "thought that his command was seen as a pariah by most agencies with vested interests in the area, including the departments of State and Defense," Hines said.

Over the years, the Central Command has managed the Gulf War and Operation Southern Watch, part of the international response to Iraqi noncompliance with a U.N. Security Council resolution passed after the Gulf War. Providing aid to Somalia and Kenya in 1992 also was among its assignments.

"So far Tampa has worked fairly well," said Daniel Goure, an intelligence and defense expert at the Lexington Institute for public policy in Washington. "It becomes a real stretch if we go after Iraq."

If the United States goes after Iraq, some analysts expect the Central Command to move closer to the region, as Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf did when he set up camp in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, during the Gulf War.

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On the Net:

Central Command: www.centcom.mil

APNP-11-26-01 0708CST