28 September 2009: Times
By Michael Evans, Defence Editor
British military commanders in Afghanistan want a mini-surge of a few hundred troops to expand the training programme for the Afghan National Army (ANA) in Helmand.
At present there are said to be insufficient soldiers available in the province to switch more resources to the training mission.
After Operation Panther’s Claw in August, 3,000 British combat troops from three battle groups are committed to holding ground seized from the Taleban during the five-week offensive and cannot be diverted to training troops from the ANA. The rest of the soldiers in Helmand have a non-combat role.
The British concern is that with a debate taking place in Washington over General Stanley McChrystal’s request for 30,000-40,000 more troops from Nato, the urgent short-term requirement for more British ANA trainers in Helmand will be bypassed.
General McChrystal, the US commander of the mission in Afghanistan, says that he needs a “bridging force” of up to 40,000 extra troops to build up the ANA to 240,000 and the Afghan National Police to 160,000 by 2013.
If his request is agreed, it will take allied forces to about 140,000. However, his suggestion has some powerful opponents in Washington.
Today Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Nato Secretary-General, will meet Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary, and General Jim Jones, the US National Security Adviser, in Washington to discuss General McChrystal’s request. Tomorrow Mr Rasmussen will visit President Obama.
A Nato source said: “We don’t expect a decision in the next few weeks.”
Even if the request is granted, deploying more troops could take months. Nato’s North Atlantic Council will have to approve a request for more alliance soldiers, and there will be further delays as individual countries come forward with offers. Britain is likely to provide up to 1,000 extra troops, but that will not solve the more immediate dilemma.
The British Task Force in Helmand is about to be rotated, with 19 Light Brigade being replaced by 11 Light Brigade, commanded by Brigadier James Cowan.
There is no suggestion at this stage that the Government will agree to boost 11 Light Brigade with a few hundred more trainers, which would take the total force to beyond 9,000.
There are about 8,000 ANA soldiers serving in Helmand, but all of them need mentoring, and there is little scope for increasing the size of the force because of Britain’s existing commitments.
Today Dr Liam Fox, the Shadow Defence Secretary, will accuse the Government of failing the troops in Helmand.
In a speech at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, Dr Fox will say that the Government has three main responsibilities in
Afghanistan: clearly to define the strategy and the objectives; to resource the campaign properly; and to maintain political resilience by taking the public into its confidence. He will claim that the Government has failed on all three counts.
“The sooner we get the Afghan security forces trained and on the front line the faster we can bring our own troops home,” he will say. He will also suggest the forming of local “auxiliary forces” to help with security in Helmand.
Dr Fox will accuse the Government of failing to explain to the public what winning in Afghanistan will entail.
“Public dissent for the mission in Afghanistan exists in the UK because the Government has found it difficult to express what we mean by winning in Afghanistan,” he will say.
“Success in Afghanistan will be achieved when we have a stable-enough Afghanistan, able to manage its own internal and external security to a degree that stops interference from outside powers and allow the country to resist the establishment of terror bases and the training camps that were there before.”
Britain will send another senior officer to join a team in Kabul engaged in persuading elements of the Taleban to “reintegrate” with the rest of the population. Major-General Richard Barrons is an expert in counter-insurgency. LieutenantGeneral Sir Graeme Lamb, who recently retired from the Army, already heads a team involved in a Taleban reconciliation programme.
