IP: 'get off our sovereign soil'.

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

British troops 'in peril' as net closes on bin Laden

· UK soldiers may be pulled out, warns Hoon
· Mystery as Taliban claim bin Laden has fled

Kamal Ahmed in London and Chris Stephen in Kabul
Sunday November 18, 2001
The Observer

Britain last night signalled its grave concern about the dangers facing 
coalition forces in Afghanistan as heavily armed warring factions demanded 
that foreign troops 'get off our sovereign soil'.

In a series of developments which showed that the war in Afghanistan was in 
danger of slipping into diplomatic and military chaos, Geoff Hoon, the 
Secretary of State for Defence, told The Observer that the situation on the 
ground was 'pretty grim' and that a contingent of 6,000 British troops may 
now not be deployed in Kabul. ]

As fighting continued throughout parts of the country still under the 
Taliban's control, Hoon also indicated that the group of 100 troops, 
including members of the Special Boat Squadron, already in the capital 
could be pulled out as tribal warlords began carving up the country, 
demanding bribes from locals, killing captured Taliban soldiers and looting 
property from civilians.
'It sounds pretty

http://www.observer.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,1501,596989,00.html


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