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http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2006/07/10/1677401-cp.html
LONDON (CP) - Britain is sending 900 more soldiers to the southern Afghanistan province where its forces are facing intense resistance from a resurgent Taliban, the defence secretary said.
Britain has about 3,600 troops in the volatile province of Helmand, with about 1,200 of them based mainly in the Afghan capital, Kabul and a few hundred more in the southern city of Kandahar.
By October, Britain will have around 4,500 soldiers in Helmand, Defence Secretary Des Browne said.
Six Britons have been killed in Helmand in the past month, nearly half the military's 13 deaths in Afghanistan since 2001.
"We have taken casualties, but we have overmatched the opposing forces every single time we have faced them," Browne told legislators in the House of Commons. "They have tried to block our mission and failed."
Senior military commanders acknowledge British troops, who began arriving in Helmand in February, have faced more resistance than they had initially anticipated, although Browne denied that was the case.
The commanders say several hundred Taliban loyalists, bolstered by militia fighters and opium trafficking gangs, have attempted to strike British forces early in their mission.
Browne said that around 200 reserve troops stationed in Cyprus would deploy to Helmand in the next few weeks.
Officials say many of the additional troops will remain for at least six months, as NATO takes charge of the peacekeeping mission across southern Afghanistan at the end of the month.
There are roughly 2,200 Canadian troops in the Kandahar region of southern Afghanistan.
Seven Canadian soldiers have died in fighting since the Canadians moved into the region in force in late winter, the latest in a firefight with Taliban insurgents on Sunday. Two others died in a road accident.
Overall, 17 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have died in Afghanistan since 2002.
The NATO mission, intended to extend the authority of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government and protect reconstruction work, will replace the U.S.-led operation launched after the Sept. 11 attacks.
"Three decades of conflict has stripped the south of all signs of governance. . . . Violence, criminality, narcotics and extremism have flourished," Browne said. "We have confronted these threats and learned much about them since we deployed."
Critics have said that British troops lack needed equipment, particularly helicopters, and were ill-prepared for the intensity of the violence they have faced.
Browne defended military planners and the government, saying they knew the mission would be difficult and needed more troops because their goals had become more ambitious, not because they had been caught off guard.
He said commanders had decided recently to move troops into northern Helmand because they saw a chance to boost the local governor and Afghan police and soldiers there.
The move could help the British stabilize the entire province more quickly than they had planned, but it means reinforcements are needed, Browne said.
"It is our actions that have brought about this development . . . not as some suggest a failure to anticipate the violent response to our arrival," Browne said.
NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said he welcomed the new deployment.
"This decision reflects NATO's firm resolve to continue to support Afghanistan's reconstruction and its democratic development," he said.
Browne acknowledged Britain's armed forces are now "heavily committed," but said the strain of twin missions in Afghanistan and in Iraq, where Britain has 7,200 troops, is sustainable.
"There is no doubt that these two operations are stretching us somewhat," said a senior military official with responsibilities for the mission, speaking on condition of anonymity.
He said the armed forces are being forced to breach internal guidelines, which usually allow soldiers a two-year break between six-month tours to combat zones.
Browne said Britain will also seek to send an additional transport plane and helicopters to Afghanistan to assist the mission.
But another senior military official, also speaking in exchange for anonymity, said the armed forces must first "tease" helicopters away from operations in Northern Ireland, the Falkland Islands and the Balkans.
LONDON (CP) - Britain is sending 900 more soldiers to the southern Afghanistan province where its forces are facing intense resistance from a resurgent Taliban, the defence secretary said.
Britain has about 3,600 troops in the volatile province of Helmand, with about 1,200 of them based mainly in the Afghan capital, Kabul and a few hundred more in the southern city of Kandahar.
By October, Britain will have around 4,500 soldiers in Helmand, Defence Secretary Des Browne said.
Six Britons have been killed in Helmand in the past month, nearly half the military's 13 deaths in Afghanistan since 2001.
"We have taken casualties, but we have overmatched the opposing forces every single time we have faced them," Browne told legislators in the House of Commons. "They have tried to block our mission and failed."
Senior military commanders acknowledge British troops, who began arriving in Helmand in February, have faced more resistance than they had initially anticipated, although Browne denied that was the case.
The commanders say several hundred Taliban loyalists, bolstered by militia fighters and opium trafficking gangs, have attempted to strike British forces early in their mission.
Browne said that around 200 reserve troops stationed in Cyprus would deploy to Helmand in the next few weeks.
Officials say many of the additional troops will remain for at least six months, as NATO takes charge of the peacekeeping mission across southern Afghanistan at the end of the month.
There are roughly 2,200 Canadian troops in the Kandahar region of southern Afghanistan.
Seven Canadian soldiers have died in fighting since the Canadians moved into the region in force in late winter, the latest in a firefight with Taliban insurgents on Sunday. Two others died in a road accident.
Overall, 17 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have died in Afghanistan since 2002.
The NATO mission, intended to extend the authority of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government and protect reconstruction work, will replace the U.S.-led operation launched after the Sept. 11 attacks.
"Three decades of conflict has stripped the south of all signs of governance. . . . Violence, criminality, narcotics and extremism have flourished," Browne said. "We have confronted these threats and learned much about them since we deployed."
Critics have said that British troops lack needed equipment, particularly helicopters, and were ill-prepared for the intensity of the violence they have faced.
Browne defended military planners and the government, saying they knew the mission would be difficult and needed more troops because their goals had become more ambitious, not because they had been caught off guard.
He said commanders had decided recently to move troops into northern Helmand because they saw a chance to boost the local governor and Afghan police and soldiers there.
The move could help the British stabilize the entire province more quickly than they had planned, but it means reinforcements are needed, Browne said.
"It is our actions that have brought about this development . . . not as some suggest a failure to anticipate the violent response to our arrival," Browne said.
NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said he welcomed the new deployment.
"This decision reflects NATO's firm resolve to continue to support Afghanistan's reconstruction and its democratic development," he said.
Browne acknowledged Britain's armed forces are now "heavily committed," but said the strain of twin missions in Afghanistan and in Iraq, where Britain has 7,200 troops, is sustainable.
"There is no doubt that these two operations are stretching us somewhat," said a senior military official with responsibilities for the mission, speaking on condition of anonymity.
He said the armed forces are being forced to breach internal guidelines, which usually allow soldiers a two-year break between six-month tours to combat zones.
Browne said Britain will also seek to send an additional transport plane and helicopters to Afghanistan to assist the mission.
But another senior military official, also speaking in exchange for anonymity, said the armed forces must first "tease" helicopters away from operations in Northern Ireland, the Falkland Islands and the Balkans.
