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Pentagon Ponders Plan to Set up Afghan Base for Ground Operations
The Pentagon is considering an option to set up a military base in Afghanistan to support possible ground operations by special forces of the United States and its allies, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Monday.
"You're asking if we're considering doing something additional in various ways,... Needless to say, that's our job - to consider much different things, and we do," Rumsfeld said at a news briefing.
Rumsfeld said operations by special forces would play a key role in fighting the Taliban and the terrorists the regime harbors when weeks of air strikes alone would not be enough to win the war in Afghanistan.
The secretary, who was furious at the leak of information over earlier ground operations in Afghanistan, refused to discuss any further details about such a plan.
A senior Pentagon official, who asked to be anonymous, reportedly told reporters that the Pentagon was considering many possibilities, including the plan of setting up a forward operating base in Afghanistan and other ways of using ground forces.
According to a USA Today report on Monday, the base, if built, might be in northern Afghanistan with a capacity to support 200 and 300 commandos.
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