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British troops face decades
in Afghanistan
Sean Rayment
London
Telegraph
Sunday October 07, 2007
British troops face a 30-year "marathon mission"
against the Taliban in Afghanistan, the commander of UK troops
in Helmand has warned.
Brigadier John Lorimer revealed the challenge facing personnel
as he disclosed that the Taliban are beginning to change their
tactics and have started to recruit fighters from foreign countries
in increasing -numbers.
The brigadier's warning came as the latest British soldier to
be killed in Afghanistan was named as Major Alexis Roberts, a
friend of Prince William.
Major Roberts, 32, was the Prince's platoon commander during
the 44-week officer training course at the Royal Military Academy,
-Sandhurst.
(Article continues below)
The Prince was said to be "deeply saddened" by the
death of his "good friend", who was fatally wounded
when his armoured vehicle was destroyed by an improvised explosive
device close to Kandahar air base in the south of the country.
He was the 82nd soldier to be killed in the country since British
troops arrived in November 2001.
Speaking exclusively to The Sunday Telegraph, Brig Lorimer said:
"This is a counter-insurgency operation which is going to
take time. It could last a decade. The counter-narcotic problem,
which is huge, could take another 25 years. The British ambassador
has said it will take 30 years. He has often said that this mission
is a marathon, not a sprint and he is absolutely right."
Brig Lorimer, who is due to hand over military command of Helmand
in the next few weeks, also said that the Afghan government might
eventually be forced to negotiate with Taliban commanders if peace
was ever to be brought to the country. The current situation in
Helmand, where 77 soldiers have died on operations in the past
19 months, is very different from that put forward by John Reid,
who, as defence secretary, predicted that a British force would
be needed in the province for just three years.
Indeed, Mr Reid declared in April last year: "We would be
perfectly happy to leave and without firing one shot because our
job is to protect the reconstruction."
Since then, however, millions of rounds have been fired and,
while more than 1,000 Taliban have been killed, the cost to British
troops has been severe.
Gordon Brown has refused to comment on how much longer British
troops will remain in Afghanistan. All the Prime Minister would
say was that "we have duties to discharge and responsibilities
to keep" and any future withdrawal of service personal would
be based on "military advice from commanders on the ground".
But the possibility of soldiers remaining for three decades in
Afghanistan would push their length of service there towards the
recently-ended 38-year stay in Northern Ireland — the longest,
continuous operation in modern UK military history.
Brig Lorimer, 44, also admitted that the Taliban was adopting
tactics used by insurgents in Iraq. More than 18 months of bitter
fighting have left its ranks depleted and its troops demoralised,
said the brigadier, speaking from his headquarters in Lashkar
Gar, the provincial capital of Helmand. But by way of compensation,
he said, the Taliban was recruiting jihadists from neighbouring
countries.
"Their tactics are evolving. We have seen more improvised
explosive devices being used against us, more mines and suicide
attacks, as well as the normal Taliban tactics of intimidation,
coercion and downright thuggery.
"They have a menu of tactics they use and this includes
conventional weapons like mortars and RPGs [rocket propelled grenades].
They are also using straight conventional attacks — using
every weapon they can get their hands on. There has been a decrease
in the number of locals fighting for the Taliban and, by means
of compensation, there has been an increase in the number of foreign
fighters. These include Arabs, Chechens, Pakistanis, Punjabis.
But we have no intelligence or evidence of Britons fighting for
the Taliban. At the moment we only have rumours on that front."
Brig Lorimer, a former member of the Parachute Regiment, rose
to prominence in September 2005 after the kidnap of two members
of the SAS in Basra. The brigadier, then the newly-appointed commander
of 12 Mechanised Brigade, ordered troops to storm a police compound
to rescue the special forces men who were in danger of being murdered.
The incident lead to an international crisis in which the Iraqi
government was highly critical of the soldiers' actions.
Clearly fearless on the battlefield, Brig Lorimer, who is married
with three children, is far more cautious about entering the political
arena. When asked if he thought the Government had the stomach
for a long fight, he said: "You will have to put that to
the politicians."
He was also dismissive of comparisons between the wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan, which, he said, "were two entirely different
conflicts". But he admitted that the Iraq war was "politically
-polarised".
The war in Afghanistan is a tremendous struggle, which, in private,
many commanders complain is being hampered by a lack of helicopters
and troops. When pushed on the issue, the brigadier conceded that
he, "like all commanders, could do with more men and equipment"
but insisted that he had enough to achieve the mission. Despite
the obvious constraints of fighting a war in Afghanistan, the
men in his command have secured a series of impressive victories
over the Taliban. The 1st battalion of the Royal Anglian Regiment,
part of his brigade, were the first troops in Helmand successfully
to force the Taliban out of Sanguin, a town that had become synonymous
with the Afghan war.
"We have only been in Helmand for a short period but in
that time we have achieved a great deal," Brig Lorimer said.
"Five months ago in Sanguin the British troops were attacked
on a daily basis and they were pretty much under siege. Now we
have a district governor, a chief of police, the bazaar is thriving
and there is a sense of hope and optimism."
He warned of the dangers of trying to impose western values on
the Afghan people. "What we do here needs to be right for
Afghanistan and the local population," he said. "We
are not trying to create a Buckinghamshire in Helmand. At some
stage the Afghans may turn around to us and say, 'Thanks very
much indeed but we are now in a position to do this on our own',
and at that stage it would be quite appropriate for us to go."
Despite the losses his force has sustained – 29 soldiers
have been killed in the past six months and more than 100 have
been injured – Brig Lorimer believes the sacrifice has been
worth it.
"It's tragic that we lose soldiers and take casualties but
when you are fighting a determined, cruel and cunning enemy, who
will use any tactic to kill, us, civilians and the Afghans, but
I think the sacrifice is worth it.
"If we were not here Afghanistan would be a much worse place.
I do think it's worth it and so do the majority of my troops.
But this is not a problem which will be solved by military means
alone.
"There is certainly room for reconciliation, scope for talking.
This war will be won by politicians – there is no military
solution to this because you have to deal with the cause of the
insurgency."
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