The U.S. and United Kingdom will turn to Russia as the primary provider of ground troops in the Afghan campaign, reports DEBKA-Net-Weekly – and Moscow is preparing to mobilize up to 1 million soldiers for the invasion and occupation.

U.S. and UK military and intelligence sources have concluded that at least 400,000 ground troops will be needed for a successful campaign in Afghanistan, according to DEBKA. But even a combined force between the U.S. and UK cannot mobilize numbers like that without the politically risky method of conscription.

Therefore, reports the intelligence service, Russia is stepping into the void.

Moscow, DEBKA reports, has been holding planning sessions around the clock for 10 days on the new mobilization.

The conditions posed by Russian army chiefs for meeting President Vladimir Putin's demand for this force were:

• The entire force would not be fully engaged before winter was over – meaning April 2002 at the earliest.

• The United States would carry all the costs – not only for the creation and training of the Afghanistan expedition army, but also for setting up a comparable force for operation in the former Soviet republics of Central Asia and Chechnya.