Will more soldiers and a fresh strategy be enough to win over the Afghan people against a resurgent Taliban?
Kim Sengupta reports from Nanyuki, Kenya.
Kim Sengupta reports from Nanyuki, Kenya.
The barren and unforgiving killing fields of Helmand are a world away from the green highlands of Africa. But it is here, on the foothills of Mount Kenya, that Britain's new military strategy in Afghanistan, the blueprint for a long war, is being put together. As President Barack Obama unveils his fundamental review of American policy in Afghanistan to combat an "increasingly perilous" situation, the UK, too, is seeking to define its role in a rapidly shifting political and military landscape.
The man carrying out the dry run is Brigadier James Cowan, who first came to prominence when leading his regiment, the Black Watch, in Iraq's "Triangle of Death" four years ago. In a few months' time, he will be involved in a new chapter in the "war on terror" as British commander in Helmand in what is expected to be a particularly turbulent time.
There is a resonance to this. Iraq was then the all-consuming focus of American and British foreign policy with Afghanistan filed away as a relatively easy victory. But as the allies moved on to dethrone Saddam Hussein, the Taliban returned to a security vacuum to launch the real war.
The man carrying out the dry run is Brigadier James Cowan, who first came to prominence when leading his regiment, the Black Watch, in Iraq's "Triangle of Death" four years ago. In a few months' time, he will be involved in a new chapter in the "war on terror" as British commander in Helmand in what is expected to be a particularly turbulent time.
There is a resonance to this. Iraq was then the all-consuming focus of American and British foreign policy with Afghanistan filed away as a relatively easy victory. But as the allies moved on to dethrone Saddam Hussein, the Taliban returned to a security vacuum to launch the real war.
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