http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,172-2575511,00.html
The Times January 31, 2007
Britain is ready to increase Afghanistan troop numbers
Michael Evans in Kabul
# Nato to keep up pressure on Taleban
# Pakistan border security increased
Britain is set to take on a bigger military role in Afghanistan which
could mean more British troops being sent later this year.
British forces are to assume greater responsibility for the south
outside Helmand province, where 5,000 British troops are currently
based, the head of the Nato force here said yesterday.
General David Richards, the outgoing British commander of Nato’s
32,000strong International Security Assistance Force (Isaf), said that a
divisional headquarters, deployed from Britain, with authority
throughout southern Afghanistan, was to be set up. It would be based in
Kandahar with a remit to deploy troops across the whole region. It will
be commanded by Major-General Jacko Page who will bring over his 6th
Division headquarters staff in a few months.
Nato’s intention is to have an expanded Isaf force for the south to
consolidate the successful actions against the Taleban during the past
nine months. This could lead to more British combat troops being sent
later in the year. The Government in London is already considering
sending an extra infantry battalion to Helmand in March because of the
continuing high level of fighting.
The expanded command role for Britain in the south will coincide with a
proposed Isaf spring campaign to drive hard-core Taleban forces out of
Helmand, General Richards said. But the British would be helped for the
first time by the establishment of a new American mobile reserve force
of about 1,000 troops from the 10th Mountain Division to be based in
neighbouring Kandahar.
Speaking before handing over his command in Afghanistan to an American
general this weekend, General Richards said: “People talk of an expected
Taleban spring offensive but the only spring offensive will be Nato’s.”
As well as focusing more on Helmand this year, extra Isaf troops are
also going to be packed along the border with Pakistan, backed by
additional high-tech surveillance equipment, to try to stop the flow of
Taleban into Afghanistan.
General Richards summed up what he felt had been achieved in battles
with the Taleban during his nine-month command.
“In the short term we haven’t removed the threat of the Taleban but we
have contained it,” he said, adding that he had never had all the assets
he would have liked to take on the Taleban. He said that Nato had
achieved “psychological ascendancy” over the Taleban.
Ground forces
# About 40,000 foreign troops are deployed in Afghanistan. There are
4,300 British troops in Helmand and 1,300 in Kabul
# The Nato ISAF has been in Afghanistan since 2003
# About 518 foreign soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001
Source: Reuters
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