4,000 British troops to go

Four thousand British paratroopers and marines were today put on standby to move into Afghanistan this weekend.

The Ministry of Defence said this morning that warning orders have been issued to Royal Marines of 3 Commando Brigade, paras of 16 Air Assault Brigade, artillery, engineers, logistics and medical troops.

Most are expected to head for Kabul, and the paras are likely to secure a major airfield for a huge allied aid effort. Other troops will be involved in maintaining law and order on the streets of the capital.

In all, Britain is likely to have around 10,000 military personnel directly engaged in peace and security operations for Afghanistan in the region itself.

Tony Blair has ordered the move, after overnight discussions with Washington, fearing that the growing political vacuum could lead to a complete anarchy in Kabul.

He is said to be anxious that British troops should take the lead in a coalition peace force, and has said that the Allies should not wait for a UN Security Council mandate before they move.

A senior military commander said the Prime Minister "is really on the front foot on this," adding: "He's determined that British troops should get on the ground fast."

Britain is likely to take the lead because "the Americans are showing some reluctance" to put in large numbers of

their own ground forces as part of a multi-national force. British troops are likely to be joined by forces from close Nato allies, France, Germany, Italy and Spain - - and Turkey as the only Muslim nation in the alliance.

The UN Special Envoy for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, has said he will travel to Kabul, but only when his security is guaranteed. He is to hold a special council on the future of Afghanistan, but no date is fixed, and UN advisers have warned that it could take up to two years before UN-backed coalition government can be established in Kabul.

Meanwhile the hunt for Osama bin Laden goes on. British troops are likely soon to be joining the handful of American special forces now in southern Afghanistan trying to locate him. He is believed to have gone to ground in remote mountains in the Kandahar region, or Paktia province.

The 4,000 Airborne and Marine Commando units will join the 4,200 men and women with the Naval Task Force led by HMS Illustrious in the Arabian Sea.

With them is a company of 40 Commando Royal Marines and special forces units who are now to move into Afghanistan to seek out Bin Laden and what remains of the command of the Taliban forces.

The rest of 40 Commando, which has been undergoing intensive training to work with special forces back in the UK, is now to move immediately to the Afghanistan theatre.

The two leading units of the peace operation are 45 Commando Royal Marines and 2nd Battalion the Parachute Regiment. They will come under the overall command of the headquarters of 3 Commando Brigade, commanded by Brigadier Roger Lane, who is already in the region with the Royal Navy Task Force. Both units fought to together in the Falklands campaign in 1982, and are fiercely competitive.

"We do airfields," said a senior para last night, suggesting that the first priority will be to secure a large airfield in order to fly in the main British contingent by C-130 Hercules and the new giant C-17 Globemaster transport planes.

Senior defence officials and command emphasise that Tony Blair sees the move as part of Britain's long-term commitment to anti-terrorist operations worldwide. The new strategy is due to be revealed in an additional chapter to the 1998 Strategic Defence Review, the blueprint of Britain's foreign and security policy.

The chapter will deal with the battle against terrorism and the world security scenario in the light of the 11 September attacks. It will talk of the "war in the shadows" against organisations like al Qaeda and its affiliates.

Already, a major general has been appointed to head Britain's military efforts against al Qaeda. Home defence, largely ignored in the original 1998 version of the Strategic Defence Review (SDR), is to become a major branch of defence policy, with its own command linking into a new version of a civil defence organisation.

In Afghanistan itself, the war is far from over, British and American defence chiefs are warning. The Northern Alliance's Interior Minister Yuinis Qanuni has claimed "now the Taliban have less than 20 per cent of the territory of Afghanistan", but this seems an overestimate.

The Taliban and al Qaeda militias appear to be making a stand in their strongholds of Jalalabad and Kandahar - - which yesterday was reported to have fallen.

One of the anti-Taliban commanders in the Kandahar area, Hamid Karzai, reported overnight that the city had not fallen. "The Taliban have not pulled out of Kandahar," he reported by satellite telephone, though he said he expected to be joined in the fight for the city by the former governor of the city Gul Agha, who is leading a band of fighters up from the Pakistan border.

The leader of the Taliban, Mullah Mohammad Omar, has told his men not run like "headless chickens," but to make a stand against their enemies. His last desperate broadcast made no mention of Bin Laden.

Few of the commandos and paras are Falklands veterans - though the outgoing commander of 2 Para, Lt Col Chip Chapman, was an 18-year-old platoon commander at Goose Green, where he acquitted himself with distinction.

The men of 40 Commando will work in teams backing patrols of the SAS and SBS seeking intelligence on the ground about the location of Bin laden and his command.

They will be directed by helicopters, unmanned aircraft or drones, and "Jaystars" electronic surveillance aircraft.

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