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UK forces deployed to Afghanistan:
Condemn the Escalation of British Troops in Afghanistan!
Hands Off Afghanistan! Hands Off Iraq! No British Troops on Foreign Soil!

The Deployment of Commandos in Afghanistan

For Your Reference:
Operation Veritas – British Forces

Philippines: US Request Nothing but A Cover for Combat Troops

Statement of RCPB(ML), March 19, 2002

The Defence Secretary, Geoff Hoon, announced on Monday the largest British military deployment into an active war zone since the Gulf War. In a statement to the House of Commons, the Defence Secretary said that a full infantry battlegroup, built around 45 Commando, Royal Marines, is to deploy for future active operations against Al Qaida and Taleban forces in Afghanistan.

That a further 1,700 men are to deployed in offensive operations in the "war against terrorism" is a proof that this "war" is not directed against "terrorism", unless one were to define whole peoples as "terrorist". It is an act of international aggression, with no justice on its side whatsoever. The British government cannot even say how many men, women and children have been slaughtered in this military occupation of Afghanistan and the brutal and barbarous bombing and armed actions. And even as the war escalates in Afghanistan, so does Anglo-US imperialism concretely prepare for an even more bloody conflict in Iraq. US and British troops are deployed in other parts of the world also, under the umbrella of this "war against terrorism" and "peacekeeping".

These aggressive acts have been combined with "anti-terrorist" legislation which in terms of human rights and civil liberties turns back the clock to well before the 19th century. This legislation, as well as being targeted at asylum seekers and other vulnerable sections of people who are on British soil, is an attack on the rights of all the people. In the rhetoric about "evil" forces, Tony Blair is no better than George W. Bush as he conjures up medievalist spectres to divert from just and humane positions and considered and rational considerations.

And yet Tony Blair has the gall not only to lecture other countries and peoples about civilised values and democracy, but to wash his hands of any responsibilities and to wage vendettas in imposing sanctions and other forms of intervention. How can this be? How can a party and government which even has pretensions to speak for the organised workers be taking the lead in world reaction in such a fashion? How can it be the accomplice and ideologue of US imperialism in its campaign of state terror against the world’s peoples? These are questions which the British workers must seriously ask and draw the appropriate conclusions. The workers’ and people’s movements must aim their struggles against such imperialist retrogression.

The British working class and people must step up their struggles against state terrorism, aggression and war. The agenda of the "New World Order" is bringing with it the further corruption and disintegration of the fabric of society. The troops being deployed to Afghanistan to take part in this unjust war are, as Geoff Hoon said, being asked to suffer casualties and to risk their lives. But this military intervention also promises to be the graveyard of the retrogressive forces themselves. The growing movement against such aggression and annexation may yet deal the decisive blow against enslavement of the peoples by the big powers, and the use of force and terror to settle conflicts internationally.

Condemn the Escalation of British Troops in Afghanistan!

Hands Off Afghanistan! Hands Off Iraq! No British Troops on Foreign Soil!

A full British infantry battlegroup, built around 45 Commando, Royal Marines, is preparing to travel to Afghanistan to help US forces join in military operations against Al Qaida and the Taleban. This group – codenamed Operation Jacana – will join a US-led brigade under the overall command of the supreme US commander in Afghanistan, General Tommy Franks.

The force will eventually total 1,700 men, making it the largest British war-fighting unit to see action overseas since the 1991 Gulf War.

The deployment will take the total number of British personnel involved in the Afghan theatre – including those involved in the International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul – to about 6,400.

Ministry of Defence officials expect the troops to be in the theatre of operations for three months with about 30 days spent on operations.

Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon told the House of Commons that the first marines, led by the 3 Commando Brigade commander Brigadier Roger Lane, will deploy to Bagram, starting arriving at the Bagram airbase within the next few days, ready to commence operations by mid-April.

They will be joined in Bagram by the remaining Companies of 45 Commando and also the Combat Support and Services Support elements integral to the Commando Group. These include:

• 7 Battery of 29 Commando Regiment, Royal Artillery, equipped with 105 millimetre light guns (based in Arbroath);
• 59 Independent Commando Squadron, Royal Engineers (based in Chivenor, North Devon); and
• elements of the Commando Logistics Regiment based in Chivenor (North Devon).

In addition to those helicopters already aboard HMS Ocean a further three Chinook helicopters of 27 Squadron are being deployed from RAF Odiham.

On March 18, 2002, the Secretary of State for Defence announced that a Commando battlegroup was being dispatched to work with US, Canadian and other Coalition forces in operations against remaining pockets of Al Qaida and Taleban resistance in Afghanistan. British Forces previously committed to Operation Veritas have included Royal Navy S & T Class submarines, RAF support aircraft, and a naval task group with Commando forces embarked.

A Royal Navy task group has been retained in the area since September 2001, supported by a large Royal Fleet Auxiliary presence. The helicopter carrier HMS Ocean recently relieved the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious and the assault ship HMS Fearless, which formed the core of the original task group. Ocean has Royal Marines from 45 Commando embarked, taking over from 40 Commando the task of providing an in-theatre contingency reserve force, and they will form the core of the battlegroup which will now be deployed on a warfighting task in Afghanistan. The battlegroup includes a wide range of elements drawn from all three Services to produce a fully self-contained force:

• 45 Commando Royal Marines
  (aboard HMS Ocean and from Arbroath near Dundee)
• 7 (Sphinx) Commando Battery Royal Artillery – armed with 105mm Light Guns
  (from Arbroath)
• 59 Independent Commando Squadron Royal Engineers
  (from Chivenor near Barnstaple)
• Detachment from Commando Logistics Regiment – Royal Marine, Royal Navy and Army personnel)
  (from Chivenor)
• RAF Chinook helicopters from 27 Squadron
  (from RAF Odiham)

Much of the battlegroup's equipment is already embarked aboard HMS Ocean and the Royal Fleet Auxiliaries, and the balance will be flown or shipped out. The RAF's new C-17 heavy airlifter is able to fly even the huge Chinook helicopters direct to Afghanistan. In total, the battlegroup and its supporting elements total some 1,700 personnel.

Three Royal Navy nuclear-powered Fleet Submarines of the Swiftsure and Trafalgar classes were deployed for the start of operations in October – HMS Superb, HMS Trafalgar and HMS Triumph. The latter pair are equipped with the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile system, introduced to the Fleet in November 1998 and used operationally during the Kosova campaign in 1999. Royal Navy TLAMs were fired on the first night of operations against Al Qaida and the Taleban on 7/8 October 2001, and again on 13 October.

All three of the above submarines have returned to the UK, but a submarine presence will be maintained in the area whilst operations continue.

Following the collapse of Taleban control in most areas of Afghanistan, it has proved possible to reduce somewhat the significant combat support force contributed to the operation by the Royal Air Force. RAF Tristar and VC-10 tanker aircraft from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire were deployed, and a capability has been retained in theatre to support the continuing operations in the area. Their refuelling system is compatible with US Navy and US Marine Corps aircraft, allowing them to offer particular support to US carrier-borne assets.

Other RAF aircraft supporting the operation have included: sophisticated E-3D Sentry AEW1 surveillance and control aircraft from RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire; Nimrod R1 surveillance aircraft, also from Waddington; Nimrod MR2 maritime reconnaissance aircraft from RAF Kinloss; and Canberra PR9 reconnaissance aircraft from RAF Marham, Norfolk. Again, it has proved possible to reduce the numbers of aircraft deployed on the operation following the removal of the Taleban regime, but surveillance aircraft remain in the area and continue to fly operational sorties.

RAF air transport aircraft from RAF Lyneham and RAF Brize Norton are providing the air transport support, particularly for the deployment of ISAF personnel under Operation Fingal.

(source: Ministry of Defence)

The US request to bring in more American troops – albeit as "civic action personnel" – is a "cover" to "legitimise (US) combat operations" in the Philippines, the chief opposition leader in the House of Representatives said on Sunday. "It proves what we have long been saying, that the Balikatan is not a mere military exercise but combat operations (against the Abu Sayyaf)," House Minority Leader Carlos Padilla said in a phone interview.

The request is an "indication of an escalation of activities" of the US military here, Padilla said. It "serves as (a) cover to legitimise the combat operations, make it acceptable and palatable to the people." "It's pampapogi (meant to make them look good)," he added.

Party-list Rep. Satur Ocampo (Bayan Muna) said bringing in non-combat US personnel was aimed at "winning the hearts and minds and support of the Moro people". "It's part of the propaganda to make the US presence acceptable here . . . as acceptable as American culture, such as their food and songs," Ocampo said in a separate phone interview.

Presidential spokesperson Rigoberto Tiglao said the deployment of some 300 more American military personnel on Basilan Island was being planned for what he called "civic action work". This, he said, was not in conflict with the terms of reference (TOR) of the six-month-long Balikatan 02-1 military exercise. "The TOR set (a limit of) around 600 US personnel but it does not say that it's the absolute ceiling for that," he said. "It did not categorically say that absolutely it would be 600 personnel." He also said the request emerged from "informal proposals based on the assessment of both the US and RP (military) personnel in Basilan".

But on all three points, chief military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Edilberto Adan offered different answers. He said the Americans would need "at least a battalion" of additional troops. A battalion comprises 800 to 1,000 soldiers. He said another military exercise, requiring a new set of TOR, was necessary. And the request came from the US side, he said. "It must be (included in) another exercise . . . We're trying to determine how to go about it, what are the options, so that we can meet the objective of undertaking development projects without violating the terms of reference of Balikatan 02-1," Adan told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. The original TOR provide for the "projected" participation of 660 US personnel and 3,800 Philippine soldiers. "It's still being studied . . . so as not to violate the TOR," Adan added.

Vice President and Foreign Secretary Teofisto Guingona Jr. had earlier opposed the joint military exercise on constitutional grounds, but later agreed to follow President Macapagal-Arroyo's lead in the issue.

Pamalakaya, the militant fisherfolk's group, said there was nothing innocent in the projected increase. "Slowly but surely, the puppet administration is carefully laying down the country's transformation into Vietnam Part II with the coming of more American mercenaries in the country," the group's statement read.

Wilson Fortaleza, Sanlakas president, said, "US interests (go) way beyond crushing the Abu Sayyaf and rescuing the Burnhams," referring to the American hostages being held captive by the Abu Sayyaf. The proposed increase was "aimed at establishing (the Americans') foothold in the country to advance their economic and political interests in the region," Fortaleza said.