Tuesday, Oct 29, 2002
U.S. digging deep in Persian Gulf
By Atul Aneja
MANAMA Oct. 28. Under the cover of a war against terrorism and preparations for a conflict against Iraq, fresh U.S. forces are being deployed to police a strategic arc covering the Indian Ocean, oil rich Persian Gulf and parts of Central Asia.
Apart from beefing up presence in the Persian Gulf, the war against terrorism has witnessed the U.S. establishing a new string of interlocking staging posts in Central Asia and the Horn of Africa. Within a few months of the September 11 terror strikes, which had its epicentre in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border areas, the U.S. began scouting for new outposts in Central Asia and Pakistan. Today, Khanabad in Uzbekistan stations around 1500 U.S. personnel. The Manas air base in neighbouring Kyrghzystan has 2,000 troops of which, 1000 are Americans. A new central power plant, a hospital and two industrial-size kitchens have sprung up at the base, indicating that the U.S. forces here are in for a long haul. The positioning of U.S. forces in the area is of considerable importance as both Kyrghyzstan and Kazakhstan border China and are not far from Russia. Kazakhstan acquires additional importance because it straddles the oil and gas rich Caspian Sea area. Besides, U.S. forces have acquired a presence in the Caucasian mountains, where it trains Georgia's 2000 strong anti-terrorist force to police the Pankisi gorge, apparently a hotbed for Chechen and Al-Qaeeda forces.
To establish greater military influence in the Horn of Africa, the Pentagon reportedly sent in a team in June to look at constructing a signal intelligence base on the Yemeni Island of Socotra. Besides, around 800 U.S. personnel, most of them Special Operations groups, have been stationed in the East African nation of Djibouti from where they can be deployed in Yemen, Somalia or Sudan to pursue alleged Al-Qaeda elements. With an eye on the war against Iraq, a massive U.S. build up is continuing in the Persian Gulf.
While Saudi Arabia hosts around 6,000 U.S. personnel, it is Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Jordan that have become the focus of U.S. military concentrations. Qatar which is expected to host around 600 war planners from the U.S. for an `exercise' is likely to become the hub for coordinating U.S. intervention in Iraq.
A command centre with satellite links to coordinate thousands of air strikes daily has been established at Qatar's Al Udeid facility. Nearly 9,000 U.S. troops — some of whom are allegedly positioned for `exercises' are in Kuwait's camp Doha and other facilities. The Shaikh Isa Air Base, 32 km south of Manama, hosts U.S. bomber and fighter aircraft, and is expected to serve as the home for 42 aircraft soon.
Oman's importance lies in its capacity to deliver war supplies to 26,000 personnel deployed in three bases. The U.S. is mordernising the Musnana air field that will house everything from fighter aircraft to B-52 bombers. Turkey's Incirlik air base is expected to serve as the launch pad for U.S. air strikes and surveillance missions over northern Iraq and an estimated 50 planes have been deployed there for this purpose.
Copyright © 2002, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu