UK soldiers help Afghans clear supply route
British soldiers embedded with an Afghan National Army unit recently to offer advice on a three-day operation to clear a vital supply route and search for insurgents.
Soldiers from 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards working alongside Afghan National Army colleagues in Nad 'Ali. Picture: Crown Copyright/MOD 2011
The operation saw soldiers from 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards, known as the Welsh Cavalry, work closely with a heavy weapons company from the Afghan National Army’s (ANA’s) 3/215 Brigade in northern Nad ‘Ali.
The soldiers cleared either side of a main supply route in the area so Afghan Uniform Police (AUP) could move up behind them and search compounds for insurgents.
During the operation a pressure-plate improvised explosive device (IED) was discovered, which was dealt with by the Afghan Explosive Hazard Reduction Team – the ANA’s counter-IED specialists, who gathered evidence and destroyed the device in place.
The soldiers did not come into contact with any insurgents and, once the area was secure, a team of engineers moved in to build three checkpoints which will be manned permanently by the AUP.
Continues at: mod.uk – UK soldiers help Afghans clear supply route
Al Jazeera: After NATO attack, truckers face hard times
Torkham Border, Afghanistan – Pakistan’s decision to close down its two border crossings to NATO supplies in reaction to the foreign coalition’s deadly raid into its territory has made the route, already marked by frequent attacks from Taliban fighters and dangerous mountainous passes, much more difficult for truckers.
Continues at: aljazeera.com – After NATO attack, truckers face hard times
BBC News: Taliban peace deal ‘threat to women’s future’
Women’s rights activists in Afghanistan say they fear the advances made by women over the past decade could be reversed if a peace deal is done with the Taliban.
The Taliban came once for Fawzia Koofi, and she knows they could come again. This prominent member of parliament – and mother of two – survived a hail of bullets last year.
Continues at: bbc.co.uk – Taliban peace deal ‘threat to women’s future’
35 Engineer Regiment beat the clock to build Helmand checkpoint
British soldiers have built a checkpoint in record time to help stop the movement of insurgents in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
Sappers from 29 Armoured Engineer Squadron building Checkpoint Khaki in Lashkar Gah for the Afghan National Police to patrol Route 601. Picture: Crown Copyright/MOD 2011
Just eight sappers from 35 Engineer Regiment worked at full-speed to build Checkpoint Khaki in just three days to help stop the Taliban moving along part of Route 601, a major highway in the Lashkar Gah district.
Until now this stretch of highway has not been monitored by the Afghan National Police (ANP), allowing insurgents the freedom to use the road, but the ANP put in a call for help to build the checkpoint to allow them to crack down on insurgents’ movements.
Continues at: mod.uk – 35 Engineer Regiment beat the clock to build Helmand checkpoint
Al Jazeera: Troop levels to drop by 40,000 in Afghanistan
Members of the 49-nation international force in Afghanistan have announced that the number of foreign troops in that nation will shrink by 40,000 by the end of 2012.
The largest planned reduction is from the US, which will remove 33,000 troops. That would represent one-third of the 101,000 American troops in Afghanistan in June, when US military presence was at its peak, according to US defence department figures.
Continues at: aljazeera.com – Troop levels to drop by 40,000 in Afghanistan
Rifleman Sheldon Lee Jordan Steel killed in Afghanistan
It is with sadness that the Ministry of Defence must confirm the death of Rifleman Sheldon Steel, from 5th Battalion The Rifles (5 RIFLES), who was killed in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, on 27 November 2011.
Rifleman Sheldon Lee Jordan Steel. Picture: via MOD
Rifleman Steel was taking part in a foot patrol to disrupt insurgent freedom of movement and to reassure the local population in Babaji, in the Lashkar Gah district, which is in the Nahr-e Saraj (South) area of operations, when he was caught in the blast from an improvised explosive device (IED). He was airlifted to the field hospital at Camp Bastion where he was declared killed in action.
Continues at: mod.uk – Rifleman Sheldon Lee Jordan Steel killed in Afghanistan
Afghan forces to take on security lead for Nad ‘Ali
Afghanistan’s own forces will take lead responsibility for delivering security in a number of new areas across the country, it was announced yesterday, including the Nad ‘Ali district of Helmand province where British forces operate.
Afghan soldiers in Nad 'Ali pose for a photograph following the successful completion of Operation TORA GHAR 15, their first major independent operation, which took place in March 2011. Picture: Crown Copyright/MOD 2011
The latest phase of the transition process, announced on Sunday 27 November 2011 by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, demonstrates continuing progress in the development of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). Training the Afghans to lead on security across the country is now the main effort of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops.
Building up the ANSF capability so that they can prevent Al-Qaeda from operating freely in Afghanistan and posing a threat to us and to our allies around the world will allow British combat forces to draw down gradually.
Continues at: mod.uk – Afghan forces to take on security lead for Nad ‘Ali
British soldiers help Afghan police build checkpoint
British troops provided support to the Afghan Uniform Police as they built a new checkpoint to protect the residents of a Helmand village from insurgents.
D Company's Sergeant Major helps build the new checkpoint in Khasar. Picture: Crown Copyright/MOD 2011
Soldiers from D Company, 5th Battalion The Rifles (5 RIFLES), supported the Afghan Uniform Police in the village of Khasar in the protected community of Walizai in the Babaji area of the Nahr-e Saraj (South) district of Helmand province.
In the three-day partnered Operation KAPCHA DELAWAR 4, or ‘Brave Cobra’, more than 60 Riflemen guarded the area while IEDs were cleared out so that the Afghan police were able to build the defences around their new checkpoint.
Continues at: mod.uk – British soldiers help Afghan police build checkpoint
UK Defence Chief: We’re en route to deliver Afghanistan strategy
The Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), General Sir David Richards, has said in an interview that in ten years time we will all agree the war in Afghanistan was necessary.
British soldiers work side-by-side with members of the Afghan National Police during a joint operation to the east of Babaji in Helmand province. Picture: Petty Officer (Photographer) Hamish Burke, Crown Copyright/MOD 2011
General Richards gave an interview about UK operations in Afghanistan to The Times newspaper, published on Thursday 24 November 2011. In the piece, CDS spoke about the reasons for the mission, the current strategy and plans for the UK’s military withdrawal.
Continues at: mod.uk – CDS: We’re en route to deliver Afghanistan strategy
UK and Afghan soldiers launch Operation COURAGEOUS MOUNTAIN
British and Afghan soldiers launched an airborne operation into an isolated area of Helmand province which they then swept for any insurgent activity.
Soldiers from C Company, 1st Battalion The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment, take part in Operation TORA GHAR in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan. Picture: Crown Copyright/MOD 2011
Operation TORA GHAR, or ‘Courageous Mountain’, was conducted by soldiers from C Company (C Coy), 1st Battalion The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment (1 PWRR), and the Afghan National Army (ANA), flown into the western Dashte area, west of Nad ‘Ali district, on two Chinook helicopters.
The operation enabled the UK and Afghan forces to demonstrate to remaining insurgents the ability of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the ANA to strike at will.
Continues at: mod.uk – UK and Afghan soldiers launch Operation COURAGEOUS MOUNTAIN
