The Terran Alliance: A Changing World- Crosspost

Chapter 8- The Plan

Chapter 8- The Plan

(October 20, 1996)

"Alright, gentlemen," General Guthrie says as he sits down at the council table with the rest of the Joint Command, "It's official. The General Assembly has given us the go ahead."

Since the news was received regarding the actions of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Taliban had taken their time before officially refusing to comply with the demand of the Alliance and officially declared that Afghanistan was not part of the Terran Alliance. The Alliance had since conducted a vote, and approved military action against Afghanistan to drive the Taliban from power.

General Gordon Sullivan, an American general who is one of the other generals on the Joint Command, speaks up. "Good. Now we can move ahead with it."

"Where are we at the units assigned to the operation?" General Guthrie responds.

"We already had 10 divisions worth of troops committed from the members of the Security Council. Since the vote has been made official, we have received pledges from Canada and Saudi Arabia for another division and 2 brigades, with India discussing possibly sending troops to participate as well. I think this will be sufficient, especially given what we know of the strength of the Taliban," General Sullivan adds.

"Very good. Now, General Levin, I'd like you to present the battle plan that you and General Wannian put together," General Guthrie says.

General Amiram Levin, an Israeli General, stands up and moves over to a projector. Turning it on, it shows a picture of a map of Afghanistan the bordering countries, as well as of the Persian Gulf. Various symbols and insignia, as well as arrows, are shown on the map on screen.

"After consulting with experts in Afghanistan's geography and reviewing estimates of Taliban strength and where its concentrated, General Wannian have come up with the following proposal. First, I think it's a given that we will have better hope for overall success in this operation if we are able to ally with the Northern Alliance. Our proposal for the first stage of the operation will be to station the Russian 2nd Guards Motor Rifle Division and the Chinese 3rd infantry Division in southern Uzbekistan and have them cross the border into Afghanistan from Uzbekistan. These two divisions will establish contact with the Northern Alliance and work to establish good relations with them before assisting them in securing the northern part of the country."

"Our second phase will be a much larger invasion. Iran has consented to allow us to temporarily stage units in their territory to launch the invasion. We will concentrate the bulk of our army just north of the city of Zahedan. This army will be comprised of the following units: the German 1st Panzer Division, the 20th Mechanized Brigade and 16th Light Infantry Motorized brigade from Saudi Arabia, the 1st Infantry Division and 2nd Armored Brigade from South Korea, the 2nd Canadian Division, and the French Foreign Legion. They will begin their advance into Afghanistan at the juncture between iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, and advance north-east through the country to draw the attention of the Taliban towards the south-west. The American 101st Airborne Division will be used to assist these first two armies in the north and in the south-west as they can to help slow down Taliban movements and cut off their supply lines.

"Once the Taliban have put significant resources to countering our main advance, the third prong of our attack will be launched. The American 10th Mountain Division and the British 1st Armoured Division will be stationed in Pakistan. Once the time is right, they will begin to advance out of Pakistan towards Kabul. However, at the same time, in order to capture the capitol quickly, we will launch a major airborne operation with the American 82nd Airborne Division and the Russian 76th Guards Air Assault Division to capture Kabul, with the goal that the 10th Mountain Division and 1st Armoured Division will arrive in Kabul before Taliban reinforcements can arrive. This army will slowly expand their control outwards from Kabul as the main army in the south-west continues their advance. This will continue until the Taliban have either dispersed or surrendered."

Everyone is quiet as they take in General Levin's plan. After a few moments, General Guthrie speaks up and says, "A good plan, General. However, do we have confirmation that we will have the cooperation of the three nations you plan to station our troops in?"

"We already have confirmation from Iran that they will be willing to allow our troops to launch the invasion from their territory. Russian ambassadors are negotiating with Uzbekistan, and an official decision is expected by the end of today, and it's expected to be positive. We are also in negotiations with Pakistan. Although there are some who believe that Pakistan has been supporting the Taliban until now, they are expected to agree to allow us to launch the invasion from their territory," General levin says.

General levin then speaks up again and says, "In addition, we have established basing agreements for our air units. Russian and Chinese aircraft will be operating out of southern Kazakhstan. We have also received a promise from India to allow us to operate aircraft from their country. Our shorter range fighters will be operating out of India, while our long range fighters and bombers will be operating out of Saudi Arabia. The Iranians have also promised for our aircraft to be allowed to utilize their airfields in the case of battle damage, mechanical difficulties, or low fuel that would not allow them to return to their bases. And, of course, our naval units will be stationed in the Persian Gulf. We will have at least two American carriers at our disposal."

"Very good," Guthrie says simply.

The head of Terran Alliance Intelligence, former Chief of Mi6 David Spedding, is also in attendance at this meeting. Now, Spedding speaks up. "We have intelligence agents deployed across Afghanistan. Many of them are natives of Afghanistan and Pakistan or immigrants from this countries. These agents are currently working to gather what information they can find on Force sensitive individuals in the country, as well as where the TLM presence is concentrated in the country. They have also been assigned to develop very detailed maps for the troops to use in the invasion."

"Good," Guthrie responds.

General Sullivan now speaks up again. "Have we received any word whether or not we will receive aid from the Starfleet?" he asks.

"I doubt it. Most of the Starfleet is currently at Torfa, and the rest of the ships are still on ready alert in Earth orbit. We may receive some starfighter assistance, but we are not likely to receive any bombardment support," Guthrie says.

A few months earlier, the Terran Alliance had finally discovered another inhabited planet in the Milky Way. The planet was known as Torfa, and home to the human-like Torfan species. The Alliance was currently trying to negotiate with the Torfans in the hope of bringing Torfa into the Alliance. Because of this, a decent portion of the Starfleet was in the Torfan system. The reason the Alliance has also taken so long to officially authorize military action against Afghanistan was because they were so occupied with the Torfan negotiations.

Guthrie speaks up again. "I have spoken with Security Council. And we have set an official date for the invasion. In order to allow for training time, and to avoid the worst of the Afghan winter, we have set the goal for the invasion for March 1 of next year. I want all efforts made to meet that date," he informs his colleagues. He is met by nods of agreement around the table.