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Title: British soldier deaths push Afghanistan toll ahead of Falklands
Source:
www.timesonline.co.uk
URL Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/ne ... afghanistan/article7019129.ece
Published: Feb 8, 2010
Author: Tom Coghlan and Deborah Haynes
Post Date: 2010-02-08 20:41:31 by Ferret Mike
Keywords: None
Views: 13
Three British soldiers have been killed by bombs in Afghanistan during the past two days. The deaths bring the number of British Service personnel who have died in the conflict to 256 — one more than died in the Falkland islands in 1982. Two members of the Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland, died on Sunday on foot patrol near Sangin, Helmand province, and a soldier from 36 Engineer Regiment was killed yesterday while clearing explosive devices near Nad-e-Ali, southern Helmand. The Royal Scots Borderers servicemen died together on a foot patrol near the town of Sangin in north Helmand. They were the 254th and 255th servicemen to be killed in Afghanistan since 2001. The men have not been named, but their families have been informed. "They were on a foot patrol bringing security to local people... when the explosion caught them... Two of our comrades have been cruelly taken from us, but their bravery and fortitude will not be forgotten," said a spokesman. The men were killed on the eve of what is expected to be the largest offensive by Nato ground forces since 2001. Operation Mastarak is expected to involve up to 10,000 troops in a concerted drive to reclaim Marja, the last district openly held by the Taleban in central Helmand. Western commanders have taken the unusual decision to heavily publicise the impending operation, giving the civilian population the opportunity to leave the area. It is expected that the Taleban will have laid thousands of roadside bombs in anticipation of the Nato advance. Less clear is whether they will stay and fight or, more likely, melt away before advancing forces and hope to launch a guerrilla war in the coming weeks and months. "What we are seeking to do is to make sure people are safe. That's why we've gone out of our way to explain what we were trying to do and when we were going to do it," said Brigadier James Cowan, the commander of UK forces in Helmand. “I don't think we have lost anything by doing this, and I think we will find the enemy will either choose to run away or to reintegrate, and only those that we wish to kill will seek to fight." Western governments have backed Afghan Government efforts to kickstart reintegration and negotiation efforts with the Taleban. However, differences in approach to the issue are apparent. The US envoy to Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, told the annual Munich Security Conference this weekend that the US has no direct involvement in talks with the Taleban. "We recognise its importance," he said. "But it must go hand in hand with security success. It requires military success to make progress." Bob Ainsworth, the British Defence Secretary, appeared to differ. “I don't believe that reintegration is something you do after victory," he said. “This is not total war. We're not looking for unconditional surrender in Afghanistan. We're looking for the stabilisation of a country and its participation in the world in a manner that doesn't threaten its neighbours and us. “We mustn't raise the bar too high in terms of our preparedness to bring people in. Neither should we wait until there is real victory before we try to reconcile or reintegrate those elements in the insurgency who are prepared to come across." Western commanders say that the decisive phase of the coming Operation Mastarak will not be the initial push to clear Marja but the holding operation that follows and seeks to establish lasting security in the area. “What's the counter-insurgency? It is not about defeating the enemy in old fashioned victory; it is about winning the people," said Cowan. “If we are going to win this for the people, the decisive phase of this operation is not the clearance, it is actually the hold. I am not going to speculate about how long it will take to clear, but I will be very precise about the hold. The whole point of the hold is for it to last forever." The arrival of thousands of new US troops has given Western forces a density of forces in Helmand, which Western commanders argue will allow them to impose a degree a security that has been hitherto impossible. Speaking by phone, one local journalist based in the Helmand capital Lashkar Gah told The Times that most of the local population has already fled the area. "People have heard about the coming offensive," said the reporter, who cannot be identified because of assassinations of journalists by the Taleban. “In Marja, for the past ten months the people, those who could, started to leave the area. First it was the rich people, in the past month the poor people are coming too. They are fearful, they know what is coming." “Recently the Government is trying to reach out to local people and tell them, even if you can't come out of Marja, don't be near the Taleban positions." The reporter said that a mood of resignation and antipathy for Western forces still prevails in Helmand, despite a concerted effort to avoid civilian casualties by Nato troops. “The Nato forces go to an area and drive out the Taleban. A few weeks later they are back and the fighting goes on," he said. “The proportion of people who think that the foreign forces are good is very small. Most people think the Taleban will prevail and the foreign troops are only a temporary presence. “They believe that the foreigners are here to try and change Afghanistan for their own benefit. So whatever you do they won't change their minds."
British soldiers in Helmand
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