'Open day' to show Marines are safe

Royal Marines cut off by the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan's ruined Bagram air base are to stage something never before available to beleaguered British garrisons down the centuries - an open day.

More than 100 Marines have been stuck in Bagram, 20 mine-infested miles north of Kabul, since they flew in on Friday. They were meant to be the spearhead of a 6,000-strong force which had been due to fly in this week but which is still waiting in UK bases.

Flights of reinforcements and supplies were cancelled on Sunday night amid furious Northern Alliance demands for the Marines to leave, and the troops have been stuck at the air base ever since.

The open day, due for tomorrow, is an attempt by the Ministry of Defence to convince the rest of the world that these men are not trapped.

For the moment the Marines are stuck in a gilded cage, with the airport surrounded by thousands of Northern Alliance troops. All roads out are blocked, with the Alliance leaders saying the only way out is by air. But tomorrow journalists will be allowed past the two defence lines, barbed wire and minefields to see for themselves how the 100-plus troops are faring.

Britain wants to save face, and find something for these men to do, while the Alliance's more alert officials realise that their obstinacy has cooled relations with the Anglo-American coalition, whose planes are still needed to finish off the Taliban.

Royal Marines spokesman Major Paul Harradine, based at the newly reopened British embassy in Kabul, insisted that morale is "tip-top" among the Marines. "Everyone has five days of food and water. They are living in buildings around the airstrip. It's pretty squalid conditions, and that's what we're good at," he said.

London sources say the original mission of the British troops was two-fold. Firstly, it was meant to give extra punch to the flagging efforts to smash the Taliban in their last strongholds of Kandahar and Kunduz.

Secondly, it was intended as an embryonic peacekeeping force to guard against the chance that the Northern Alliance, having grabbed Kabul last week, might decide to do without the promised power-sharing government.

Both operations are now under threat, and London wants a way to extract the force.

Major Harradine said only that the troops are on reconnaissance, assessing the airbase for possible operations.

"I don't want to get into any speculation about what it could be used for. The primary aim is to bring humanitarian aid to the people of Afghanistan," he said.

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