Defence Secretary and Chief of the Defence Staff: Press Conference - 23 October 2001
The Secretary of State for Defence, Geoff Hoon MP, and Admiral Sir Michael Boyce, the Chief of the Defence Staff, held a press conference in London on 23 October 2001 at 1500.
Hoon: Ladies and gentlemen: good afternoon. For nearly two weeks now, United States and British forces have been engaged in military action against the Al Qaida terrorist network and the Taliban regime that shelters and protects them in Afghanistan. The aims of this military action, which contributes to our wider campaign objectives, are clear: to destroy the terrorist camps; to pressurise the Taliban regime to end its support for Usama Bin Laden; to create the right conditions for future operations in Afghanistan to maintain that pressure.
We have achieved the first of these objectives: destroying the terrorist camps. We believe that nine Al Qaida camps were occupied before the start of the military operation; I can now tell you that we have successfully put all of these camps out of action. The locations of these are shown on the map on the screen now.
We've had a great deal of success against the second of the objectives: putting the Taliban under pressure. We have continued to attack their military facilities; nine airfields have now been attacked and are mostly out of action. 24 military garrisons have been hit hard; their forces in the field are currently being attacked, weakening their ability to withstand the Northern Alliance.
We've achieved the third of the objectives: creating the right conditions for future operations in Afghanistan. The Taliban air force is effectively no more; coalition forces have enjoyed air superiority at medium and high levels over Afghanistan for some days now. We saw a remarkable demonstration of this at the weekend, with a successful raid by American troops, who encountered no significant interference from Taliban forces.
Finally, there's been a lot of speculation today that the United Kingdom will increase its contribution to the continuing military action, particularly by leaving forces in the region after the end of Exercise Saif Sareea. This is just that, for the moment: speculation. We are determined to assist the United States as effectively as we can, but we have made no decision about how we might adjust our contribution. But we will do so shortly and will announce them when we do so. The Chief of Defence Staff and I will now take any questions that you might have.
QUESTION (James Forlong, Sky News): Two questions really. One: what do you think the significance was of the strikes against these nine targets; how far does it move the campaign forward? And (b) is there any intention that British warplanes will be taking part in any further strikes?
Hoon: The significance clearly is related to our primary objective, which is to bring Usama Bin Laden to account and to prevent him from using bases in Afghanistan to further his ends, both in support of the Taliban regime, and indeed to promote terrorism around the world. That has been achieved, at least as far as those nine training camps are concerned.
Boyce: Yes, I think I can just add to that also these strikes certainly make it highly unattractive for him or the Al Qaida to envisage doing any other overt training, because if they start we'll stop them. So far as British warplanes are concerned, we have already supported a very large number of sorties from the American Air Force, and the US Navy, and we'll continue to do so with our reconnaissance effort, our air share refuelling assets.
QUESTION (Richard Quest, CNN): The US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, said a short campaign of a few weeks would be better. How far from what you've announced today does that make it more likely?
Hoon: We've never indicated a time limit on the precise military operations; we've never suggested that the bombing campaign will last any particular length of time. What we have said is that this is about putting pressure on the regime in order to bring Usama Bin Laden to account. That means there will be periods of intensive bombing and periods when the campaign, in the military sense, appears to be slowing down, periods where you may not detect any activity at all, but it is all part of a determined effort to put pressure on the Taliban regime, ultimately leading to the bringing to account of Usama Bin Laden.
QUESTION (Kim Sengupta, The Independent): You mentioned, Secretary of State, speculation about ground forces will continue and will probably get higher, more feverish. Can I just ask you: have the US actually asked now what assets they want from the UK? If they have, have they been acquiesced to? And secondly, can you give us a time frame of when you expect things to happen on the ground?
Hoon: Well, as I indicated to Parliament, as did the Prime Minister: the United States has made a formal request for particular assets that have been satisfied; indeed, those assets have been used as part of the military campaign already.
There is a regular dialogue, communication with the United States about how we, and indeed other allies, can continue to help the United States in the military campaign. That is not a process that depends upon a formal request. There are a number of areas where these decisions are taken really on the basis of continuing military need, and that action carries on as we continue the very close relationship with the United States on these questions.
As far as the second question is concerned, I indicated that we are in the process of looking at the equipment and people who are engaged on Exercise Saif Sareea with a view to deciding which of those we will need to retain in or around the theatre to support future operations, but no decision has yet been taken about which those will be.
QUESTION (Kim Sengupta, The Independent): So can I just clarify, sir, basically what's happening is that planners from Washington and London are discussing matters and proposals are being put to you and you are saying yes or no. Is that the situation?
Boyce: I think that . we have a planning staff working with the Commander-in-Chief CENTCOM who are alongside the US planning staff as the campaign develops, and so there's never going to be one fixed request that should see us through for the future. As the campaign develops, so the military requirements will change and so we will dovetail in with what the Americans want, to try to meet whatever their needs are, so it is a developing situation the whole time.
And if I could just add to what the Secretary of State has said about Saif Sareea - our forces - we need to remember that the majority of those forces have been out in Oman now for quite a long time, and they need to be brought home, reconfigured, retrained, rested and so forth, so frankly, whatever decision we come to at the end of the day, we will have to take into quite serious account about the fact that we do need to bring these people home, or the vast majority of them home, in order to reconfigure them, retrain them, bring them up to speed and so forth.
QUESTION (The Guardian): Could you give us some more of an idea about the next immediate objective? Colin Powell only on Sunday talked about the matter having to be resolved before winter, and there are also of course I suppose humanitarian implications; I wonder if you really could give a sort of clearer idea for us of the next immediate objective and time frame.
Hoon: Well, I don't think the objectives have changed from what we have set out to Parliament and what I have indicated to you today in terms of the military ambitions that we have and the extent to which those have already been fulfilled, but clearly the ultimate objective remains to bring Usama Bin Laden to account and to focus on the appalling activities that he and his organisation perpetrated on 11 September, and indeed before that, so we're not losing sight of the ultimate campaign objective, which is to get him.
QUESTION (Kevin Dunne, ITN): Can I ask if there's been any shift in the British contribution to the campaign, or any additional resources brought to it? Have we fired any more cruise missiles and in particular, did we take part in or support the Friday night raids by US Special Forces?
Boyce: We haven't changed out contribution at this particular stage from that which we spoke about a week or so ago, that was to say, the air enabling assets I talked about earlier on, tanking, reconnaissance in particular, and also the submarines which are also assigned to the campaign, and on the raid last weekend we were not involved with.
QUESTION: Can I just clarify: Mr Hoon, you said that you were looking at the various elements in Saif Sareea to see which ones might have to be retained, I think were your words --
Hoon: I said 'retained in or around the theatre'.
QUESTION: Okay, and Admiral Boyce appeared to be indicating that the vast majority would come home but that they need to be retrained. Does that rule out actually telling them on 1 November, "You're to go left rather than right", as it were, "towards Afghanistan and not home", or will they all have to be brought home first, before you decide what to do with them?
HOON: No, I would very much envisage that .no, we wouldn't bring everybody back home, and then send those particular special assets required back out to the Middle East again. We would obviously . if there were some particular specialist areas which would be useful to leave in the theatre, and that's what we're looking at at the moment, then they would not come home.
QUESTION (Marjorie Knorr, LA Times): Two questions: first of all, the bombing is now going on in the north in coordination with the Northern Alliance; is there a decision to proceed on the military campaign regardless of whether there's a political solution or a government to put in place, if and when the Taliban fall? In other words, are they going hand in hand or are you going ahead, no matter what, to beat the winter? Second question, on another topic, in Northern Ireland: could you talk about what moves there might be on the part of the British military in response to disarmament by the IRA, if and when that occurs?
Hoon: As far as the Northern Alliance is concerned, the Northern Alliance are part of the pressure that is being brought to bear on the Taliban regime. The bombing is another part of the pressure and, as you say, it is clear that the two are not unconnected in the sense that by attacking the Taliban's defensive positions, that is increasing their difficulty and increasing our ability to continue that pressure right across Afghanistan. But it is part of the effort to put that regime under pressure so that we can ultimately bring to account Usama Bin Laden. And that has not changed.
As far as Northern Ireland is concerned, I anticipate the Prime Minister will be saying more about that this afternoon and I don't anticipate that it's sensible at this stage to add to what he's about to say.
QUESTION (Daily Mail): Could you characterise for us the impact that the onset of winter is having on the planning and how it will affect what we can or can't do, particularly on the ground? Is it fair to say that with winter approaching, the clock's ticking to achieve as much as we can in the next three or four weeks?
Hoon: Well, it's certainly true to say that the onset of winter plays a fundamental part in our operational planning and certainly, once the winter starts to set in, which essentially is about towards the end of November, obviously on the high ground it becomes very, very difficult indeed to move. That's not to say, though, that the sort of operation, for example, that was sent out to . by specialist troops last Friday could not be conducted throughout the winter. And of course, air superiority can be maintained as well. And anywhere where the ground is not too high then there's no reason why a campaign shouldn't continue, for example around Mazar-i-Sharif.
QUESTION (Gavin Cordon, PA): There've been a lot of claims from the Taliban about civilian casualties over the past few days which you've advised us not to put too much store by. Do you have any assessment of what civilian casualties have been caused over the past two weeks?
Hoon: Well, it is impossible for us to assess the precise number of civilian casualties - if there have been any; and I have to put that qualification in because I'm afraid I have learned to treat with some suspicion the claims that the Taliban regime have been making, because when they have indicated specific incidents, specific places, where they claim that bombing has taken place, frankly that has not been borne out either by our understanding before any missions had been flown or by our analysis of what has occurred. And indeed, on at least two specific occasions that I can think of, what they had claimed has been at complete variance with the facts as we understand them.
QUESTION (Inaudible)
Hoon: Well, as I say, it isn't possible for us to say on the ground whether there have been specific civilian casualties; I simply doubt the claims that the Taliban regime have made in the light of their incredible claims so far.
QUESTION (Steve Smith, Channel 4 News): Where do you think the Taliban and Al Qaida fighters are? And if, as is rumoured, they're deep in caves, how is it proposed to winkle them out?
Hoon: Well, they're not, in fact, deep in caves. The Taliban fighters . many of them actually are in open ground and they are deployed, for example, around Kabul and around Mazar-i-Sharif. And we are looking particularly at the Northern Alliance to see what they can do to take the ground around those two cities.
Boyce: I think it's fair to say as well that the operation that was conducted on Friday is an indication of the kinds of steps that may be necessary if we are to 'winkle out', in your expression, those elements of Al Qaida that don't choose to come out for themselves.
QUESTION (Jonathan Marcus, BBC World Service): You focused very much on one particular aspect of the campaign: the military one in Afghanistan. I mean clearly, as you keep stressing, there are many other fronts in this war. We've seen in the United States very significant steps being taken to improve civil defence, to improve the coordination of all the activities that go into what they call 'homeland defence'. Are you proposing within the Defence Ministry here to pursue a similar reform and reorganisation for civil defence activities in this country?
Hoon: Can I say first of all that the Government has already put a great deal of further effort, building on the civil contingencies work that has been done already, so it is not simply something that we are waiting to do; this is work that has been in hand for quite some time now. It will not necessarily involve the military, although obviously in a crisis I would expect to see the military as part of the assistance that would be made available to the civil power.
Equally, I have announced the need to look at the implications of asymmetric warfare and domestic threats for the longer term, and that work will certainly involve looking at so-called 'homeland defence' - that is, how we ensure in a crisis that the military can make a specific contribution. But that work is in hand and I hope to have some results of that early next year.
QUESTION (Freedom Review and Parity Democrats): Question to the Secretary of State: has the Government succeeded sufficiently in dissociating terrorism from Islam, as we (inaudible) no decline in the recruitment of British Muslims to the armed services? And to Michael: given the Taliban's dreadful treatment of Afghan women, has there been any surge in female recruitment to the armed services in the expectation that they can emulate the roles which British servicewomen have already played in safeguarding human rights in Kosovo? And will this role be highlighted in the Reserve Services' open day this Saturday?
Hoon: Let me deal with your first point. Every time any government minister has spoken about this, we have emphasised the importance of this being not a war against Islam; it is a war against terrorism. All countries of the world - and Islamic countries, in fact, more than most - suffer from terrorism. It's important that we concentrate on that aspect of dealing with criminals, not dealing with people who are genuinely motivated by strong religious feelings.
Boyce: I certainly abhor the way the Taliban have treated women in Afghanistan, as I am sure any decent person does. There is not, as far as I am aware, any particular surge in the applications for women who wish to join the armed forces. But we have a healthy application rate anyway and I am sure those joining will have added reason for wanting to join us in order to help scourge organisations such as the Taliban, who perpetrate such frightful deeds, yes.
QUESTION (Paul Adams, BBC): Just following up on a couple of questions that have been asked already about the bombing around Mazar-i-Sharif and Kabul. Is it your impression that what is going on there is an attempt merely to sustain pressure on the Taliban forces, or is the Northern Alliance being facilitated in their attacks on those two cities? Is there a danger that they might take one or both of those cities before the political diplomatic efforts led by the UN and Lakhdar Brahimi have really yielded any fruit?
Hoon: I don't really think that it's possible to make quite such a neat distinction between the two points that you raise in the sense that clearly, bombing the Taliban defensive positions has the impact of putting them under pressure; they had to concentrate some of their forces in the areas around Kabul and Mazar-i-Sharif at the expense of protecting other parts of Afghanistan. So, they'd certainly have the impact of putting them under pressure. What in turn it does, clearly, is encourage the Northern Alliance and encourage the Northern Alliance's ability to move southwards towards both of those targets. I don't think that should come as any great surprise to anyone in this room.
QUESTION (Abdullah Hamida, Kuwait and Oman): In a statement attributed to you, it says that the location of bin Laden has been limited to 20 square miles. Does this mean that he is really pinpointed to be attacked or arrested, and would this stop the bombing of other areas? Because you deny the credence of civilian casualties in Afghanistan, while it comes in vision pictures. And this is something I don't know how can one dispute it?
Hoon: Well I've certainly not made any statement suggesting Usama Bin Laden is in any area of 20 square miles. What I have said, and I believe this to be the case, that by putting pressure on the Taliban regime we are limiting the areas within which he can hide. And that is an important part of the pressure that is being brought to bear.
As far as the bombing is concerned, the bombing is of identifiable military targets and that has not changed since the start of the campaign around two weeks ago, and as far as civilian casualties are concerned, I don't I have anything to add to what I said earlier: we go to an enormous amount of trouble to avoid civilian casualties, both in the United States and on this side of the Atlantic, a very, very determined effort is made and that effort will continue.
QUESTION (Michael Smith, Daily Telegraph): You told us about these terrorist camps that had been attacked. Are you yet able to tell us which targets the Royal Navy submarines attacked with their cruise missiles on the first day and 11 days ago?
Boyce: I don't think it would appropriate to give out targeting detail and about which particular targets we have attacked; we have certainly been involved in attacks on terrorist training camps from our submarines, yes.
QUESTION: The Americans are giving out details of attacks, aren't they? They're giving photos out?
Boyce: I'm not aware of what the Americans have done.
Hoon: Can I take one more question?
QUESTION (Dutch Press): Could you elaborate on the timetable for a further contribution, British contribution, in the conflict, especially with regard to ground troops? I think you mentioned the term 'shortly' - would that be in the next hours or the next days or the coming week?
Hoon: Well, one of the advantages of the word 'shortly' is that I don't have to define it quite as precisely as you would like me to, but certainly that process is in hand. The exercise in Oman is coming to an end and therefore it is important that we let the people affected know what is their immediate future, as to whether they are coming back to the United Kingdom for a well-earned rest and recovery that the Chief of Defence Staff described, or whether they are going to continue with further operations in and around Afghanistan. But we have not yet reached that decision. We are about to.
QUESTION (Inaudible)
Hoon: (Laughs) I'm not going to even improve on the answer that I've given you already. Thank you all very much.
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(Available on the UK Ministry of Defence Web site: http://www.mod.uk)
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