US plans escalation of campaign

American forces have begun a major escalation of the ground war in Afghanistan with direct assistance to the Northern Alliance to grab several key cities from the Taliban in the next few weeks.

The Americans want the Northern Alliance, still short of crucial supplies - fuel in particular - to make a dash for cities like Mazar i Sharif before the heavy snows arrive in two or three weeks' time.

The US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has confirmed that several hundred US forces are now working inside northern Afghanistan. According to some reports they have established a forward operating base inside the country.

Mr Rumsfeld has also given the clearest indication that the US is planning a dramatically bigger ground operation in the spring - effectively a Desert Storm 2 - if the Taliban does not collapse over the winter. Close allies like Britain will be heavily involved.

Asked about the number of American ground forces now operating inside Afghanistan, Mr Rumsfeld said: "It is true we do not have anything like the ground forces we had in World War Two, or in Korea, or in the Gulf War, but nor have we ruled that out."

The opening of a new phase in the war was discussed by the US operational commander General Tommy Franks of US Central Command during talks with Pakistan's ruler General Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad yesterday. The talks were joined by the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, General Aziz Khan, and chiefs of the three armed services.

Gen Franks said there would be no pause in US bombing for Ramadan, which begins on 17 November. He called for better co-operation in sharing intelligence by the Pakistan Inter Service Intelligence, the ISI.

The ISI have intimate knowledge of the workings of the Taliban and its military, and of the precise location of key command bunkers and storage depots. Members of the ISI, however, are credited with creating the Taliban in large part, and the Americans think they are reluctant to fully disclose the workings of the organisation.

Pakistan's military leaders are worried that they are not being kept fully in the picture about future American strategy. The Taliban's intelligence chief Qari Ahmadullah has claimed that the Americans now have 500 soldiers at a forward base in Feyzabad in Badakshan province. Mr Rumsfeld would only say: "We do have a very modest number of ground troops in the country, and they are there for liaison purposes and have been doing an excellent job of assisting with the coordination of resupplies of various type, as well as targeting."

The Americans have begun air dropping ammunition and other supplies to the Northern Alliance. It is hoped that the Alliance will take Mazar i Sharif soon. The Americans want to use Mazar and several smaller towns as forward air bases from which to mount bombing raids and helicopter missions by special forces.

British and US defence sources say hard intelligence from the ground is still hard to come by. British defence advisers at the Ministry of Defence are talking of the need "to fight for intelligence". This is likely to be the main role for the SAS and SBS in the coming weeks.

The British special forces will work with similar commonwealth units, such as the Australian and New Zealand SAS units. The company of 40 Commando Royal Marines, based in HMS Fearless and HMS Illustrious, will act first in rescue and recovery if special forces patrols get into difficulty.

All 600 Marines of 40 Commando will be rotated for duty with the ships and on possible missions into Afghanistan by the end of January.

Service chiefs are aware of how exhausting patrolling and lying up in the Afghan highlands will be in winter.

Later the British forces are likely to be involved in establishing forward operating bases for special forces and light fighter bombers in southern Afghanistan.