US and Britain Begin New Combat Mission in Afghanistan

A new operation to search out and destroy Al Qaeda and Taliban forces is under way in eastern Afghanistan involving a sizable contingent of British Royal Marines, Pentagon officials said today.

"This is not the first time the British have been with us," Brig. Gen. John W. Rosa Jr. of the Air Force said at a Washington briefing today. "They've been with us since day one. They've had their special forces with us.

"But this is the 41st Commando, Royal Marines, and they're just now becoming operationally – fully operationally capable, and we just wanted to acknowledge their efforts."

The British, numbering about 1,700, are part of a coalition force also involving American and Afghan troops, but a large percentage of the Royal Marines are engaged in support roles, so not all will be engaged in combat, General Rosa said.

The general, deputy director of current operations of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, declined to say how many troops were in the coalition force.

General Rosa said he did not believe there had been any contact with Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters since the operation began on late Monday. It is being carried out in Paktia Province, near the Pakistani border, in the area of Gardez and Khost, he said.

He declined to say if he believed that there might be an Al Qaeda command structure in the area, saying instead: "You really don't want to tell people what you're seeing. You don't want to tell people how you see the enemy reacting and what they're doing."

In Afghanistan, a United States military spokesman, Maj. Bryan Hilferty said the operation was the first large-scale combat operation for the allies since a 12-day assault last month in the Shah-i-Kot mountains.

The identities of four American troops killed on Monday near Kandahar as they worked on defusing 107-millimeter rockets were announced at today's briefing by the Pentagon spokeswoman, Victoria Clarke.

They were Staff Sgt. Brian T. Craig, 27, of Texas; Staff Sgt. Justin J. Galewski, 28, of Kansas; Sgt. Jamie O. Maugans, 27, of Kansas, and Sgt. First Class Daniel A. Romero, 30, of Colorado. Their hometowns were not provided.

Staff Sergeants Craig and Galewski and Sergeant Maugans were members of the 710th Explosive Ordnance Detachment based at San Diego. Sergeant Romero was with the 19th Special Forces Group in Pueblo, Colo.

General Rosa said an investigation was continuing into the explosion that caused their deaths.