Marine commander will veto 'unreasonable orders'

The Guardian
March 26, 2002
Mark Rowe and agencies

The commander of the British Royal Marines in Afghanistan has today said he will not carry out unreasonable orders from the American forces as his troops prepare to fight the remnants of al-Qaida and the Taliban.

Around 1,700 Marines will arrive at the Bagram air base north of Kabul over the next 10 days in Britain's biggest overseas deployment since the 1991 Gulf war.

The Marines will be under the ultimate command of the US forces but Brigadier Roger Lane, commander of the 3 Commando Brigade, has made it clear he has the power to veto any mission in which he feels his forces should not participate.

Bgdr Lane said: "Every national commander has the right to advise the coalition partners as to any mission that he thinks he has been given that is unreasonable for his force."

But Bgdr Lane, whose commandos are expected to be ready for action by the middle of April, said he did not expect to have to use his "veto power" in deciding which missions his troops would take.

Any disagreements would be worked out with US Major General Frank Hagenbeck, commander of the US-led coalition ground forces, he said.

"From my discussions with Gen Hagenbeck, it is difficult for me to think that he would give me something that is inappropriate," he said.

Tension has already been reported between US and coalition forces in the region. The French newspaper Le Monde said earlier this month France had refused to let its warplanes attack some targets in Afghanistan assigned to them by US commanders, arguing the missions endangered civilians.

Bgdr Lane said he would not hesitate to make it clear if he felt some missions were inappropriate for the Marines. "I would anticipate we would be discussing the developments of operations in which I would be saying to him 'that's a good task for us, perhaps that's best for somebody else'," he said.

Meanwhile, the Marines are continuing to negotiate with Pakistan to use the port of Karachi as a staging post en route to Afghanistan. Around 250 Marines are on HMS Ocean, off the Pakistan coast.

Pakistan has so far refused to grant them access and is believed to have security concerns about the presence of the troops. If Pakistan refuses to back down then the troops will either be flown direct to Bagram or via the Gulf state of Oman.

"Negotiations are still going on with Pakistan to use that route in," said a Royal Marines spokesman. "However, if that doesn't work, then we've obviously got alternatives that we can use," he said.

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002

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