The military road ahead

Future action is likely to resemble Operation Anaconda

By Jonathan Marcus BBC defence correspondent

Operation Anaconda in eastern Afghanistan has illustrated the nature of the combat operations in which the Royal Marines are likely to be engaged.

The terrain is rugged and inhospitable, pock-marked with caves and other natural defensive positions.

It is an ideal landscape for small numbers of men to execute hit-and-run operations, simply melting away when challenged.

British military planners say that Afghan and Taleban fighters have shown themselves to be adept at fire and manoeuver operations; well-coordinated, committed, and, while lightly-armed, are sufficiently well-equipped for the nature of the battlfield in which they are operating.

Mastery of the difficult terrain will be vital

They have small arms, anti-tank weapons like the Soviet-style RPG which can be devastating in close quarters action.

They also have some small anti-aircraft weapons, up to about 23mm in calibre, though anything bigger would be difficult to move in this terrain.

The Royal Marines battle group essentially comprises four rifle companies along with a headquarters company.

They have their own personal weapons and some support arms, but their real punch comes from the artilley which is deploying with them - a battery of 105mm light guns - and of course American air power.

Future operations are likely to resemble Operation Anaconda.

Intelligence key

Once concentrations of al-Qaeda or Taleban fighters have been identified, planners will look to establish blocking position to cut off their retreat and air power will be used to attack visible elements of the enemy force.

There is no alternative, however, to a painstaking sweep on the ground, checking each and every depression and cave one by one.

This is what makes the task so dangerous and as the Taleban fighters have already demonstrated they can more than hold their own in any local skirmish.

It is clear that the Americans initially under-estimated the numbers of enemy fighters

Intelligence is going to be the key to success for the combined British and American operation.

And this leads to a wider political problem. London and Washington tend to talk about "remnants" of al-Qaeda or Taleban fighters.

But what is far from clear is whether these opponents are simply al-Qaeda stragglers who are re-grouping or whether they are just local tribesmen opposed to both the interim government in Kabul and its foreign supporters.

With the Soviet Army's harrowing experiences in mind, nobody in either the Pentagon or the Ministry of Defence in London wants to get into a long-running guerilla campaign in Afghanistan, where mastery of the terrain is every bit as important as whatever high-technology western armies can bring to the battlefield.