[R-G] 10, 000 British troops to be fighting Taliban in Afghanistan within 12 months

[Anthony Fenton]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/4741032/10000-British-troops-to-be-fighting-Taliban-in-Afghanistan-within-12-months.html

By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent
Last Updated: 9:40PM GMT 21 Feb 2009
10,000 British troops to be fighting Taliban in Afghanistan within 12  
months
More than 10,000 British troops will be fighting the Taliban in  
Afghanistan within 12 months Photo: GETTY

Defence chiefs believe the 8,300 troops currently serving in the south  
of the country need to be bolstered by an extra battle group of  
between 1,500 and 1,800 men within a year.

The deployment will push the Britain's Armed Forces to the very limit  
of its fighting capability and will raise fears that the entire  
operation has now fallen victim to "mission creep".

It is understood that the Army's top generals have given their support  
for the plan and are now awaiting approval from the Treasury and other  
areas of government.

The so-called "mini-surge" has been ordered in a direct response to a  
decision by President Barack Obama to send an extra 17,000 combat  
troops to counter the growing threat posed by the Taliban.

Although the figure was less than the 30,000 which had been called for  
by the US military, defence sources believe the move has sent a direct  
message to the US's and Britain's Nato partners that they must do more  
to help win the war in Afghanistan.

The new British battle group will consist of an infantry battalion,  
composed of around 700 troops, bolstered by at least one rifle company  
of 120 troops. The force will be supported by signallers, medics,  
engineers and elements of the Royal Artillery.

The Army has notched up a series of major successes against the  
Taliban, including the retaking of Musa Qala in northern Helmand, a  
former insurgent stronghold, as well as the operation to create a  
functioning hydro-electric power station at Kajaki.

But the much vaunted plans to bring reconstruction to the region have  
stalled, following the deterioration of security in the province.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has now increased troops numbers in  
Helmand every six months since 2006, when just 3,300 troops were sent  
to southern Afghanistan to secure the area and to allow reconstruction  
to begin.

John Hutton, the defence secretary, has persistently called on  
Britain's allies to do more of the "heavy lifting" in Afghanistan but,  
apart from France, virtually all have refused to do so.

There are around 56,400 Nato troops in Afghanistan and of those 24,900  
are from the US. Britain has the second largest contingent with 8,300,  
followed by Germany which has 3,460, although most of these are based  
in the relatively peaceful north.

Canada, one of Britain's major allies in southern Afghanistan, has  
2,830 troops based in Kandahar province and has lost 108 soldiers in  
battle. However, the Canadian government confirmed last week that it  
plans to withdraw all its troops from the country within two years, a  
move which will create a vacuum that can only really be filled by the  
US or Britain.

Mr Hutton said last week that he had not yet received any request from  
the US for extra troops but added that UK force levels were kept under  
constant review.

He said: "We haven't received any such request yet, and we obviously  
keep our force levels in Afghanistan under literally constant review,  
because we have an obligation… a duty of care, if you like, to make  
sure that our operations are being conducted as safely as possible;  
and if there's a need, either for more troops or for more equipment,  
obviously we look very, very seriously at that."

The arrival of the extra battle group will follow the deployment of a  
special 300-strong force of bomb disposal troops, which is expected to  
arrive in Afghanistan in the next few weeks. Details of the deployment  
are to be announced by Mr Hutton in Parliament next month.

It is understood that extra ammunition technical officers (ATOs), who  
specialise in bomb disposal, will work closely with troops from the  
Intelligence Corps to try and discover supply routes of improvised  
explosive devices (IEDs) into Helmand and the location of bomb  
factories.

Taliban IED attacks now account for around 70 to 80 per cent of all  
casualties suffered by British troops, according to defence sources.