The Militant - August 28, 2006 -- British forces expand NATO operations in Afghanistan

Vol. 70/No. 32 August 28, 2006

British forces expand NATO
operations in Afghanistan
(front page)

BY PAUL DAVIES
LONDON—Following weeks of intensive fighting, the head of NATO forces in southern Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. David Richards, a British officer, announced August 12 a new offensive against Taliban forces. Under the plan, the imperialist military alliance will move Afghan army units in to defend locations NATO forces had previously been trying to hold. This would free up NATO troops to mount “search and destroy” missions in areas held by the Taliban, which ruled the country until the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.

Commenting on the scale and intensity of the fighting, Richards said: “This sort of thing hasn’t really happened so consistently, I don’t think, since the Korean War or the Second World War…. This is persistent, low-level, dirty fighting.”

Since May, British troops in the country’s Helmand province have fought 25 major battles in which they have killed about 700 Taliban, the August 6 Telegraph reported.

Imperialist forces occupying three outposts in the northern part of the province are reportedly being attacked every day by Taliban fighters. “There is a little bit of Rorke’s Drift about this and if we are not very, very careful we could have a disaster on our hands,” said Major Charles Hayman. He was referring to attempts in 1879 by British colonialists in South Africa to hold a garrison under attack by local Zulus.

In response, Gen. Michael Jackson, head of the British Army, said his forces were “getting stuck in” to the Taliban. NATO forces are using Royal Air Force Harriers and U.S. A10 fighter jets to drop 500 pound laser-guided bombs.

The governor of the Helmand says his administration does not function in two of the province’s 12 districts and government officials can only travel freely in central areas.

Ten British soldiers have been killed in the area in the past two months, according to BBC News. Preparing public opinion for further deaths, Air Chief Marshal Jock Stirrup said, “We knew we were going to take casualties.”

“We’re here for the long haul,” Richards added.

With NATO taking command since the beginning of August of forces previously led by the U.S. military, the Atlantic military alliance is now engaged in its biggest combat operation outside Europe in its history. Some 18,000 troops are operating under NATO command in Afghanistan.

British forces recently began upgrading their materiel for further combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, replacing Land Rovers, which are vulnerable to roadside bombs or rocket-propelled grenades, with Vector vehicles that are more mobile and durable.

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