The US military has deployed a quick-reaction force around Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan, US officials said on Wednesday.
The force, comprised of no more than two dozen soldiers, were from the US Army's 10th Mountain Division across the border in southern Uzbekistan, the officials said on condition of anonymity.
The numbers of the quick-reaction force could increase in preparation for renewed Taliban resistance around Mazar-e-Sharif, the officials said.
The 10th Mountain Division has had about 1,000 soldiers providing security at an air base in Uzbekistan for several weeks.
The US has already deployed several hundred Army and Air Force special operations forces inside Afghanistan. They are working in small teams linked with the Afghanistan Northern Alliance forces in northern and southern parts of the country.
Some 750 to 800 US Marines are also operating near the southern city of Kandahar to hunt down Saudi militant Osama bin Laden and Taliban leaders. The Pentagon said that the numbers of Marines may increase to about 1,100.
(Xinhua News Agency November 29, 2001)
