[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Sign-in] [Mail] [Setup] [Help]
Status: Not Logged In; Sign In
|
Resistance See other Resistance Articles Title: Why are more troops going to Afghanistan? Prime Minister Theresa May has announced that 440 more British military personnel will join the Nato mission in Afghanistan. But how do the UK and US allies see their role in the country? The additional troops will be ferrying international advisors safely around the country's capital city, Kabul, in their Foxhound vehicles in what has been dubbed "Armoured Uber". All part of the Nato mission to train, advise and assist the Afghan security forces. For British soldiers and most of Nato's forces it is no longer a combat mission. It's now almost four years since British troops left the heat and dust of Afghanistan's Helmand province. It's where hundreds lost their lives. Today the Taliban still control most of Helmand. Two years ago, the Americans returned, albeit in smaller numbers than previously served in the province. It's a return, too, for their commander, Brig Gen Ben Watson, who was last in Helmand in 2010. He says: "I'm not surprised we're still committed here in some fashion." He calls the decision in 2014 by US and British forces to leave "premature". And if the Americans had not returned, he says: "I would imagine that Helmand would be pretty solidly under the Taliban right now." Gen Watson now commands about 500 US Marines who, we are repeatedly told, are not there to lead the fight, but to "advise and assist" the Afghan forces. That support includes US air strikes against Taliban positions, which are also targeted with the Marines' ground-based long-range HIMARS artillery rockets. It also means overseeing the training of the Afghan army, whose troops need all the help they can get. The Afghan army has been struggling to fill its ranks because of the reluctance of men to serve. Nowhere more so than in Helmand. The unit we saw being trained was already significantly under-strength. They'd been pulled off the battlefield after almost two years of "intense fighting". We were told they'd suffered high rates of attrition - a mixture of casualties and desertions. Recent recruits had been added to their number. Often, the first time they know they're being sent to Helmand is when they get on a plane in Kabul. Afghan Taliban militants and residents stand on a armoured Humvee vehicle of the Afghan National Army as they celebrate a ceasefire on the third day of Eid in Maiwand district of Kandahar province© Getty Images Afghan Taliban militants and residents stand on a armoured Humvee vehicle of the Afghan National Army as they… Lt Jon Connelly, the US Marine overseeing the training of this unit, says it is still "70% below strength". I ask him if that's a worry. "It is," he says, but with "time and recruiting and constant advising the senior leadership will improve the situation". They may be short on numbers but there have been improvements in the overall quality of the Afghan security forces. They do now have their own fledgling air force and effective elite combat units. Overall, the Afghan army also appears to be better trained and equipped. But there's still a long way to go. UK to send 440 more troops to Afghanistan Afghanistan civilian deaths 'hit record high' Nato summit tackles Afghan conflict Counting the cost of Trump's air war in Afghanistan We went out on patrol with them on the main route through Helmand - Highway 1. The road is often targeted by Taliban roadside bombs. But some of our escorts seemed more interested in their entertainment along the way, with Bollywood hits piped through a stereo speaker. Some were smoking cannabis. They still don't always look, sound or even smell like a professional army. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: Ada (#0)
It is all a smokescreen. The U.S. is in Afghanistan because of the Opium. ;)
"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke
Yeah, I've noticed no opium convoy is ever bombed or attacked.
|
||
|
[Home]
[Headlines]
[Latest Articles]
[Latest Comments]
[Post]
[Sign-in]
[Mail]
[Setup]
[Help]
|
||