Afghanistan

500 extra British troops to deploy to Helmand

The UK will deploy 500 extra troops to Afghanistan, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has announced today, Monday 30 November 2009.

Last month Mr Brown agreed to increase UK troops in Afghanistan by 500 as long as troops are fully equipped for their tasks, the Afghan Government is ready to provide more troops for training, and all coalition partners bear their fair share of the burden.

In a statement to the House of Commons today Mr Brown said that all these conditions had been met and that the extra 500 troops will be deployed in early December, taking the number of British troops in Afghanistan to 9,500.

The 500 extra troops will be drawn from 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh.

Mr Brown said that he has had assurances that soldiers would be fully equipped, that several other countries in the coalition will also provide additional troops, and that thousands of members of the new Afghan National Army Corps will be deployed to Helmand to work alongside coalition forces.

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Reuters: Air strike kills 30 Taliban in Afghanistan-police

KHOST, Afghanistan, Nov 29 (Reuters) - About 30 Taliban insurgents were killed in a NATO-led air strike in eastern Afghanistan after they attacked an Afghan police post, a police official and the alliance said on Sunday.

Afghan border police commander Sayed Nabi Mullahkhil said a police checkpoint in eastern Khost province, which shares a border with Pakistan, was attacked by militants overnight.

The privately owned Tolo TV station said 26 insurgents were killed, including one fighter from Chechnya.

Continues at: alertnet.org - Air strike kills 30 Taliban in Afghanistan-police

ISAF: Command Sgt. Maj. Michael T. Hall: How to win in Afghanistan and how to lose

International Security Assistance Force Command Sergeant Major

There’s a village in Eastern Afghanistan where, six months ago, coalition forces and Afghan civilians were unable to drive down the main road. It was just too dangerous. Roadside bombs, the number one killer of troops and Afghans, were everywhere.  

Then a small number of American military police and combat troops moved into the area to bolster the local police. They set up checkpoints along the road, the town’s link to the outside world. There weren’t enough troops to watch every mile of the road every hour of the day, so they set up small combat outposts between checkpoints to be close by if anything did happen.

One night, something did. The troops spotted three men burying a bomb in the road. They shot the would-be bombers, killing them on the spot.

Continues at: isaf.nato.int - Command Sgt. Maj. Michael T. Hall: How to win in Afghanistan and how to lose

The Guardian: Afghan withdrawal would be folly

By Robert Fox

At the base of the 1st Battalion 5th US Marine Expeditionary Brigade at Garamsir in south Helmand they have a slogan on their T-shirts guaranteed to enrage Caroline Lucas and Simon Jenkins, two of Cif's most recent commentators on Afghanistan.

"Just do Marja" it reads. Marja is a quilt of small fertile plots just south and west of Lashkar Gah, the current provincial capital of Helmand. Like the irrigation channels that feed the fields of Marja, Lashkar Gah is largely the creation of a huge project by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) that made Helmand the bread basket of Afghanistan, and a magnet for tourism even.

Marja has become one of the big poppy growing plots of the world. Today it is largely under Taliban control, who run their "parallel government" there by night – which means robbing the farmers in the name of Islamic taxation, closing schools and demanding tribute in food, warm clothing, and young recruits for their jihad. It is also a centre for assembling IED roadside bombs, which they lay with astonishing deftness and speed.

Continues at: guardian.co.uk - Afghan withdrawal would be folly

Big News Network: Demoralised UK troops fear defeat at home

British pessimism over Afghanistan is demoralising soldiers, say the country's commanders

Britain is at serious risk of losing its way in Afghanistan because rising defeatism at home is demoralising the troops on the front line, military commanders have warned.

High-ranking officers, including a former commander of the SAS, have expressed deep concern that the country is in danger of "talking ourselves into a defeat back home" as the war reaches a critical stage.

Continues at: bignewsnetwork.com - Demoralised UK troops fear defeat at home  

Sign On San Diego: 6 Afghan national police killed by fellow officer

By RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Writer

KABUL — A rogue Afghan police officer opened fire at a checkpoint in southwest Afghanistan, killing six police officers and injuring two before being killed, an official said Monday.

The incident – the second time in two months that a police officer has turned on colleagues – is a reminder of the steep challenge NATO troops face as they work to build a national police force that will be able to provide security and allow international forces to eventually leave.

The shooting in southern Nimroz province occurred Sunday morning in Khash Rod district, said provincial police chief Gen. Abdul Jabar Pardeli.

Continues at: signonsandiego.com - 6 Afghan national police killed by fellow officer

Afghanistan News: Taliban slaughters animals in suicide attacks

In their latest ploy to cause maximum damage to international forces stationed in Afghanistan, the Taliban is using donkey suicide bombs to attack British troops in southern Afghanistan.

Recently, a senior British Army officer and six other military personnel survived an attack when a tethered donkey laden with explosives was detonated as their armoured vehicle passed in southern Afghanistan.

“We’d spotted the donkey tethered to a tree as we were on our way down south to monitor an operation that had been going on that day, but thought nothing of it. There are donkeys around everywhere,” The Times quoted an officer, as saying.

Continues at: afghanistannews.net - Taliban slaughters animals in suicide attacks

The Guardian: Afghanistan troop numbers data: how many does each country send to the Nato mission there?

Did you know that Ireland has seven troops in Afghanistan? Find out how many each country contributes

Nato is at full-stretch in Afghanistan. Britain has just announced it is to send 500 more troops. Meanwhile, Brack Obama is about to announce his new strategy this week.

The Nato commander there, General Stanley McChrystal, has warned of possible "mission failure" unless more international forces, coupled with new tactics to win local support, are deployed immediately.

Continues at: guardian.co.uk - Afghanistan troop numbers data: how many does each country send to the Nato mission there?

Afghanistan News Center: Afghanistan to be given timetable for progress

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad – Countries backing Afghanistan's government are going to demand that it meet specific security benchmarks, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Saturday, outlining a plan to let foreign troops gradually hand control to local forces.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai and foreign ministers from a number of countries are expected to attend a Jan. 28 conference to set a timetable for Afghanistan to train and deploy thousands more soldiers and police, Brown said at a news conference in the Caribbean nation of Trinidad & Tobago, where he is attending the Commonwealth heads of government meeting.

"President Karzai has got to accept that there will be milestones by which he's going to be judged, and he's got to accept that there will be benchmarks which the international community will set," the prime minister said.

Continues at: afghanistannewscenter.com - Afghanistan to be given timetable for progress

The Sun: Hold your nerve, we can win this

The Army commander who led one of the bloodiest missions in the Afghan conflict has told war wobblers: "Don't lose your nerve, we can win."

In his first interview since returning from the Helmand badlands, Lieutenant Colonel Gus Fair breaks his silence to ensure his brave warriors do not die in vain.

He was CO of the Light Dragoons Battle Group during the summer offensive in Babaji - which became a titanic tussle for power against Taliban hordes.

Continues at: thesun.co.uk - Hold your nerve, we can win this 

Enough equipment for 500 extra troops in Afghanistan

There is enough equipment in Afghanistan to support the deployment of an additional 500 British troops, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth has said today, Monday 30 November 2009.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced on 14 October 2009 that an extra 500 British troops would be sent to Afghanistan if three conditions were met. These were:

• That a way forward is agreed across the international coalition on fairer burden-sharing

• That the Afghan National Army and Afghan Government provide sufficient numbers and quality of Afghan National Security Forces in Helmand in order that they can operate alongside British forces there and be 'partnered' by them, and

• That every British soldier and unit deployed to Afghanistan is fully equipped for the operations they are asked to undertake.

Read more at: mod.uk - Enough equipment for 500 extra troops in Afghanistan 

RAF Merlins begin operating in Afghanistan

Having arrived in Afghanistan two weeks ago, the initial RAF Merlin Force has now passed the extensive pre-flight checks enabling them to take to the Afghan skies one month ahead of schedule.

This declaration of an Initial Operating Capability means that following transportation to Afghanistan, re-assembly and pre-flight checks, Merlins are now available for operational flying on the front line.

The Merlins are transporting troops to and from the Forward Operating Bases and are resupplying them with ammunition, food and equipment.

Read more at: mod.uk - RAF Merlins begin operating in Afghanistan

Evening Standard: Kites soar as Guards bring light to a forgotten corner

Tamiron is a community on the edge of existence. So dirt poor that nothing grows there and the Taliban have given up raiding it. So forgotten that ISAF allied forces passed it by.

With the approach of the Muslim festival of Eid, the Grenadier Guards took steps to remedy the lapse.

A small convoy from The Queen's Company delivered 200 blankets, school materials and toys to this scrap of desert west of Helmand's capital Lashkar Gah.

Continues at: Evening Standard: Kites soar as Guards bring light to a forgotten corner

MSNBC: Afghan governor survives assassination attempt

KABUL, Afghanistan - The governor of the volatile southern Afghan province of Kandahar survived an assassination attempt when a bomb targeting his convoy exploded as he headed for Friday prayers to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.

The remote-controlled roadside bomb damaged Turyalai Wesa's car and blew out one of the vehicle's windows, but the governor was unhurt, said spokesman Zelmai Ayubi.

He said one policeman was wounded in the blast.

Continues at: msnbc.msn.com - Afghan governor survives assassination attempt

Frontline: Stephen Grey: Afghanistan is "quite depressing"

Journalist Stephen Grey has recently returned from Helmand province and described his trip to Afghanistan as "quite depressing". He noted that casualties have increased in 2009 and said it has already been a hard winter for troops on the ground.

Grey was talking to the War Studies Department at King's College London yesterday about his latest thoughts on the situation in Afghanistan having spent some time with 2 Yorks and the US Marine Corps.

Over the summer, Grey identified a change in approach in Helmand province. Previously British troops were going into villages, seizing control and then pulling out, unable to provide durable security. Now, he said, there is an acceptance that areas have to be held for the long term.

Continues at: frontlineclub.com - Stephen Grey: Afghanistan is "quite depressing"

The Times: We have strategy, kit and leadership. Let’s go

The British soldiers guarding the newly built Friendship Bridge over the fast-flowing irrigation canal in their sector of Helmand province are far too young to remember the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. If they had, they might have thought twice about the name. The Russians also had a Friendship Bridge — the one crossed on foot by Soviet General Boris Gromov when he led his defeated army out the country more than 20 years ago.

It is tempting to draw comparisons between the last gasps of the Soviet occupation and the current fate of Nato troops in the country. A foreign force easily conquers Afghanistan but then overstays its welcome. Unable to quell an insurgency, it commits more troops to the battle and secures the cities. The lessons of history are ignored; defeat is unavoidable.

Continues at: timesonline.co.uk - We have strategy, kit and leadership. Let’s go

Afghanistan News.net: Proposed Taliban talks closed for now

The US proposal to hold talks with the Afghan Taliban leadership, with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia playing the role of mediators, has fallen apart.

The US Central Investigation Agency had been working to hold secret talks with the Taliban leadership, with the help of the Saudi leadership and the General Intelligence Directorate of Saudi Arabia and the Pakistani leadership and the Inter Services Intelligence.

But with the Taliban hell-bent upon fighting the US-led international forces, the initiatives have failed to yield any desired result.

Continues at: afghanistan News.net - Proposed Taliban talks closed for now

Independent: Afghanistan 'needs political solution'

By Andrew Grice and Jane Merrick

The struggle in Afghanistan will not be won by military means alone, Gordon Brown admitted last night as he warned that it must be accompanied by a political solution.

As the US, Britain and Nato allies prepare to announce they will send thousands more troops to Afghanistan, the Prime Minister said there was a "need to have not just a military push in Afghanistan, but a political push".

Mr Brown said: "What we want to do at a national level is support clean and corrupt-free government. At a local level we want to support district and provincial governors that are free from intimidation and can actually deliver the services that people want. What we also want to do is encourage those people who are not wedded to the Taliban to renounce violence and join the political process."

Continues at: independent.co.uk - Afghanistan 'needs political solution'

Star Tribune: NATO teams training Afghans on the front line play crucial role in the war and exit strategy

By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU , Associated Press

NAGHLU, Afghanistan - By day, French soldiers fight side by side with Afghans during Taliban attacks. By night, their officers share meals, the French trying to muster haute cuisine from military rations, the Afghans offering steaming piles of mutton stew and rice.

As President Barack Obama prepares to pour up to 35,000 more U.S. troops into Afghanistan, a much smaller contingent of NATO trainers — many of them European — form a crucial part of the strategy to win the war and get foreign troops home.

The 1,500 trainers from 20 countries live with Afghan forces on the front lines. Their goal: to improve the skills of soldiers in the field, part of the effort to build up the army and police so they can control the country on their own.

Continues at: startribune.com - NATO teams training Afghans on the front line play crucial role in the war and exit strategy

CO 3 RIFLES reports from Helmand

The Commanding Officer (CO) of 3rd Battalion The Rifles (3 RIFLES) has written about the role of his soldiers who are currently deployed in the area around Sangin in Helmand province.

3 RIFLES took over as Battle Group (North) from 2nd Battalion The Rifles (2 RIFLES) in October.

During their six-month deployment, 2 RIFLES located more than 200 IEDs (improvised explosive devices) across the area of operations and increased control of the area, improving security in the heart of Sangin town, and establishing new police checkpoints, resulting in an increase in police numbers.

Read more at: mod.uk - CO 3 RIFLES reports from Helmand