§ 18. Mr. ChopeTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on Operation Veritas. [8368]
§ Mr. HoonOperation Veritas is the United Kingdom's military contribution to the global response to the terrorist atrocities in the United States on 11 September.
The aims of military action over the past three weeks are clear: to destroy the terrorist camps; to pressure the Taliban regime to end its support for Usama bin Laden; and to create the right conditions for future operations in Afghanistan to maintain that pressure.
We have already achieved the first and third of these objectives. The terrorist camps that were known to have been in use at the start of the military action campaign have successfully been put out of action. The coalition has achieved air superiority at medium and high level.
We are making good progress against the second objective. We are now focusing on Taliban forces in the field, weakening their ability to retain control of key parts of Afghanistan.