Stardate 20011005.0617 (On Screen): About a thousand troops from the
10th Mountain Division are being moved to Uzbekistan. That isn't even remotely enough for an actual assault on Afghanistan. This force will be intended to create and protect a US base there, likely as a secure point for air units or special forces, or in preparation for later deployment of other elements of the 10th. Some of this initial group are likely to be engineers, to start working on necessary facilities, while most of the rest will set up a secure perimeter. It should be recalled that it took about six months for the US to build up sufficient forces in Saudi Arabia to launch the Desert Storm campaign; we're beginning to see the first stages of a similar buildup in the vicinity of Afghanistan, and it may take even longer this time because of transportation difficulties. If indeed the US does ultimately launch a ground assault, Uzbekistan might well be a reasonable place to base part of it. Other forces would likely come in from the south, via helicopters from our carrier task forces. Having a force come in from the east from Pakistan would also be nice but there are serious concerns about whether large scale deployment of US forces in Pakistan might destabilize the situation; that would have to be handled very carefully. And of course, any of these could actually be a feint.
(discuss)
