NYPost

U.S. MAY SOCK BIN LADEN FROM RUSSIAN BASES

By NILES LATHEM

September 14, 2001 -- WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is talking with Russia about using former Soviet military bases in central Asia as staging areas for massive military assaults on Osama bin Laden, The Post has learned.

Senior diplomatic officials in both countries revealed last night that plans to use two Russian bases in Tajikistan - and the former Soviet air base at Bagram inside a portion of Afghanistan under the control of anti-Taliban forces - are at the center of ongoing talks between the United States and Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country has been victimized by terror bombings of Moscow apartment buildings linked to bin Laden, has revived an offer he made a year ago for the United States to use bases in Tajikistan for possible joint operations against bin Laden and the ruling Taliban in Afghanistan.

Secretary of State Colin Powell said President Bush spoke twice by phone to Putin on Wednesday about joint measures the two former Cold War rivals might take to combat their common enemy: militant Islam.

Asked specifically about whether the United States will use the Russian bases as staging areas for military operations in Afghanistan, Powell said only: "There are lots of ways the Russians can help. It's their neighborhood."

The White House has said it is prepared to launch massive and sustained military action against those responsible for Tuesday's attacks, but has not made final decisions on the details.

Options being debated include repeated air strikes and possible ground assaults and commando raids, sources said.

The United States could stage long-range air raids and missile attacks from aircraft carriers and bases in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean, but Pentagon planners have acknowledged the need for a staging area in the volatile region if it becomes necessary for ground operations.

"If you look on the map, the Tajik and Afghan bases are the most logical and reliable staging areas for what I think is being contemplated," said Kenneth Katzman, former CIA analyst and Afghan expert for the Congressional Research Service.

Likely targets of U.S. bombing raids and ground assaults would be heavily fortified mountain bunkers and caves.

"There is 100 percent Russian solidarity on this. The Russian government and people realize that we face a common enemy," said Michael McFaul, of the Carnegie Endowment of International Peace.

Russia has maintained a large military presence in Tajikistan since its forces pulled out of Afghanistan in the early 1980s. The 201st Motorized Division is considered one of the best-equipped and -trained units left over from the once-mighty Soviet Red Army, and is located near the Afghan border.

The Bagram Air base, once the center of Soviet military operations in Afghanistan, is located 40 miles north of Kabul in an area controlled by the Northern Alliance, one of the largest anti-Taliban groups still fighting in Afghan's civil war.

The Russians have also been pushing for months to give economic aid and military support to the Northern Alliance fighters, and those plans intensified yesterday with meetings in Tajikstan that were also attended by Iran and India.

-- Anonymous, September 14, 2001