Canadians join bin Laden hunt

Robert Fife, Ottawa Bureau Chief and Steven Edwards, with files from Marina Jimènez

National Post

NEW YORK - Canada's elite special forces were on their way to Afghanistan yesterday to help the United States and its allies hunt down Osama bin Laden and supporters of his al-Qaeda terrorist network.

The commandos of Joint Task Force 2 -- a 250-man, highly skilled and secretive unit -- will join allied special forces in covert operations against the Taliban and al-Qaeda, a Department of National Defence official said yesterday.

"I can confirm an element of JTF-2 is deploying from Canada to an undisclosed location in the Middle East in anticipation of joining other special operations of the coalition,'' Renée Filiatrault told the National Post.

While the members of JTF-2 will be the first Canadian troops in Afghanistan, the National Post has learned that Canada is being considered to lead a follow-up force to maintain law and order in Kabul, the Afghan capital.

Diplomats say either Canada, Germany or Britain is most likely to lead the international force.

"Canada is a great possibility," said one. "It is not openly involved on the ground in Afghanistan."

It is not known whether JTF-2 commandos will join American Delta Force and Green Berets, Britain's Special Air Service and Australian and New Zealand SAS assault teams for an attack on bin Laden's hideout.

The Northern Alliance, which ousted the Taliban from power last month, said it believes bin Laden is either in Tora Bora, the mountain cave complex near the Pakistan border, or Kandahar, the Taliban's last stronghold.

Bin Laden has reportedly built a fortress 1,150 feet beneath the mountains equipped with water, electricity and ventilation. It is said to be guarded by hundreds or thousands of fighters.

Ms. Filiatrault said Defence does not provide details of operations involving JTF-2, established in 1993 when the Canadian Forces took over responsibility for anti-terrorism from the RCMP.

With winter coming to Afghanistan, General Tommy Franks, the operational commander of U.S. forces in the Afghan campaign, decided to call in Canadian commandos after a series of successful operations by U.S.-led special forces.

The Canadians are said to be specially trained for assaults on targets in extreme winter conditions.

Canada's military role in the campaign in Afghanistan has so far been limited to about 1,400 personnel, most of them sailors serving on six ships in the Arabian Sea.

Canada has 1,000 light infantry troops on standby in Edmonton -- 150 can leave within 48 hours, the rest within seven days.

Canada joined Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Turkey in offering to send troops to Afghanistan several weeks ago to maintain order and clear the way for humanitarian aid in the wake of the Taliban's sudden collapse.

However, deployment of such an international force has until now met opposition from the United States and the Northern Alliance Afghan rebels who took power in Kabul after the Taliban fled.

U.S. military commanders felt the presence of a large peacekeeping force would complicate and perhaps hinder operations to defeat the Taliban and search for bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network.

And the Northern Alliance has consistently resisted agreeing to foreign troops in Afghanistan, saying its forces were capable of maintaining order.

Senior diplomats have told the National Post the new Afghan administration has requested such a force, which could require 10,000 soldiers or more to help maintain order. Canada's name was raised as a potential leader of the force in private meetings of leading members of the United Nations Security Council, which yesterday began formal discussions on authorizing such a force.

Senior representatives of the five veto-wielding members of the council, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the troops would patrol at least the capital and surrounding areas until the transitional government establishes and trains a replacement Afghan force.

A lead country is needed to co-ordinate the force.

Kieran Prendergast, the UN's political affairs chief, last night told a closed meeting of the Security Council it must act quickly to authorize the force, officials at the meeting said.

Factions in the new government call for the force in an agreement on power sharing signed yesterday in Bonn, Germany, following nine days of UN-brokered talks.

The agreement says the new government will take power Dec. 22. The peacekeeping force must be in place before then to give the new administration time to organize and establish itself.

Frantic calls to countries still interested in offering troops will take place over the next few days, however one Security Council diplomat said he did not expect trouble raising the required number of troops.