The US Defence Secretary, Mr Donald Rumsfeld, said yesterday that the United States was deploying military forces to help fight a new war on terrorism, but cautioned that the conflict would be "a marathon, not a sprint".
Mr Rumsfeld told reporters he had signed an order to move US forces - which defence officials said privately included warplanes and troops toward the Gulf and near Afghanistan - in response to last week's terrorist attacks on the US.
Washington has accused Afghanistan's ruling Taliban of harbouring the suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden and has warned Kabul that it could face attack if he is not turned over to the US.
Mr Rumsfeld refused to give details of the military deployment order signed on Wednesday, but stressed at a Pentagon news conference that President Bush's "war on terrorism" would be fought on diplomatic, financial and military fronts.
"It is a marathon, it's not a sprint," he said. "It will certainly require the patience of all of us."
"What we're engaged in is something that is very, very different from World War Two, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Kosovo, Bosnia: the kinds of things that people think of when they use the word war, campaign or conflict," he added.