UK commander: We won’t give up our Afghanistan gains
By Alex Stevenson
Senior commanders have vowed to prevent the Taliban returning to the triangle of territory liberated by Operations Panther’s Claw.
Nine British soldiers lost their lives in the five-week long campaign, which saw fierce fighting as UK forces ousted the Taliban from an area between Helmand province’s commercial centre Gereshk and its administrative capital, Lashkar Gah.
But the shadow of previous military operations, like that which liberated Musa Qala in December 2006, hangs over the victory.
In a briefing on operations to journalists this lunchtime the senior soldier within the Ministry of Defence dealing specifically with Afghanistan, Lieutenant General Simon Mayall, pressed the importance of not abandoning the area gained.
“We cannot cede ground we’ve now cleared. We cannot have another Musa Qala again,” he pressed. British forces had to retake Musa Qala after the Taliban returned to an area which had been thought secure.
Speaking of Afghan civilians, he added: “They may assume we may lose interest. We’ve got to be absolutely clear. the Taliban are not going to be in a position to influence them over the next year.
“You’ve got to get that feeling of progress and momentum. that you are back, you are going to stay. And you hope Afghan political will wrap around it.”
The commander of British forces on the ground in Afghanistan, Brigadier Tim Radford, told journalists via videolink from Helmand that the “atmospherics” on the ground were very positive.
But Task Force Helmand’s head of mission Hugh Powell warned that these were “still early days” and that “people are positive, but cautious”.
He added: “It will take time to get them to believe we will stay.”
Operation Panther’s Claw, or Panchai Palang in Pashtun, sought to oust Taliban fighters from an area covering 100,000 people around the villages on Spin Masjid and Babaji.
While declining to reveal his estimates of how many insurgents had been killed in five weeks of heavy fighting, Brig Radford said the losses were “significant”.
“We know there are many Taliban who will not be fighting any more,” he added.
