Marines ready for Afghan action

SOUTHERN AFGHANISTAN -- U.S. Marines have been joined by a handful of British, German and Australian officers ahead of a possible push on Kandahar, the Taliban's last stronghold in Afghanistan.

So far there are only five non-American officers at the U.S. base in southern Afghanistan. But their presence, and the fact that more were expected, may mark a shift in the importance of the anti-terror coalition the United States began building following the September attacks.

The campaign has been overwhelmingly American, although British warplanes have taken part in the airstrikes and about 100 Royal Marines have secured an air base north of Kabul, the Afghan capital.

"There are British, there are Germans, there are Australians and there are more to come," said Capt. Stewart Upton, spokesman for the Marine task force in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, helicopters from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, based on the USS Bataan, began arriving at the base to reinforce allied air power, as northern alliance forces close in on Kandahar.

The base is within striking distance of Kandahar, the last major city in the hands of the Islamic militia that once ruled most of Afghanistan, and that the United States accuses of harboring those responsible for the Sept. 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington.

A military source said the Taliban were known to be moving forces and weapons to Kandahar from Lashkargah, 80 miles to the west.

Upton declined to say what role U.S. forces would play in an assault on Kandahar or give an idea of their mission.

Maj. James "Beau" Higgins, an intelligence officer with the Marine task force in Afghanistan, said anti-Taliban militias from the north and the southeast were closing in on Kandahar, "and us potentially coming from where we are."