"It has been an honour to lead these men," says Lt-Col Cartwright.

Interview: Lieutenant-Colonel Stephen Cartwright, Black Watch commander

AS Black Watch troops prepare to return home from Afghanistan, their commander speaks to Stephen McGinty about the regiment's experiences
IN A corner of Kandahar airfield, amid the whop-whop-whop of Chinook helicopter rotors and the roar of the engines of Hercules transport planes, sits the headquarters of the Black Watch, 3rd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland. It is a wooden hut and when temperatures at the base, Camp Roberts, reach their highs of about 55C, the building is lost amid the shimmer of a heat haze.

For the past seven months this has been home to the battalion's commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Stephen Cartwright, from where he has planned mission after mission in the districts of Babaji, Zhari and Nahr-E-Saraj, exotic place names now as familiar to his soldiers, from Perth, Dundee and Inverness, as the names of their own towns.

But today the maps, once pinned to the walls of the planning room next door, are gone, the computers have been removed and the battalion is preparing to return home this week after a long, hot summer in which it participated in the bloodiest fighting for a generation. The troops have fought by the bodies of comrades killed in action and heard IEDs explode in the distance then listened to the radio crackle as medics try in vain to save a fellow soldier. They have hung to canvas straps inside Chinooks and flown through the Afghan night as part of the largest aviation assault in recent British history, and fixed bayonets in readiness for close-quarters combat. Along the way, a Black Watch sniper applied "the lead sleeping tablet" to a Taleban insurgent from a distance of 1.2 miles, and so claimed a macabre record.

"It has been an honour to lead these men," says Lt-Col Cartwright. "I am incredibly proud of their achievements."

For the full article click here for the Scotsman

Black Watch troops seize weapons and ton of drugs - Times

British troops seized 1.5 tons of cannabis resin during a three-day assault on an insurgent hotspot in Afghanistan. Hundreds of Black Watch soldiers surged into Lakari in southern Helmand Province under cover of darkness on a mission to clear a bazaar of drugs and ammunition. Two platoons engaged in battles with the insurgents, allowing another group to search the bazaar, where their finds included a block of cannabis the size of a football and components for making bombs.

The Scottish soldiers were supported by an Afghan counter-narcotics team and American bomb disposal experts, US Marine Corps Harrier jets, Cobra helicopter gunships and drones controlled by Scots gunners from 40 Regiment Royal Artillery.

Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Cartwright, The Black Watch commanding officer, said the operation’s impact would be felt throughout the area. “This was a key insurgent hotspot in southern Afghanistan and we have driven a wedge between the legitimate economic hub and the insurgent bomb facilitators,” he said.

“The long-term effect of this will be maintained by the US Marines who built an operating base to the north east of the bazaar. This will ensure that our gains are maintained and that the local Afghan population can once again exploit the economic potential of the area without the fear of explosive devices and insurgent violence.”

The mission from September 30 to October 2 began when the 315-strong force arrived in US Marine Corps helicopters under cover of darkness. The Lakari Bazaar was completely isolated and Seven Platoon of Bravo Company started a methodical search and found a catalogue of bomb-making equipment, chemicals used to refine opium into heroin and large quantities of drugs — a key source of income for the insurgents Private Tony Brownless, 22, from Inverness, of Seven Platoon, said the finds were “amazing”. He added: “I’m in no doubt that finding all of this has saved the lives of numerous people, and taking the drugs away from the Taliban has certainly reduced their ability to generate income.”

The two other platoons in Bravo Company kept the insurgents at bay, killing a group of eight who approached carrying rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns. An unmanned drone dropped a 500lb bomb on the insurgent firing point and a Hellfire missile finally silenced them.Among the items found were machine gun ammunition, mortar ammunition, improvised explosive device batteries, command wires, detonators and switches. Before leaving on the third day, the Battlegroup set charges to blow up all the finds.

While the operation was running, American troops from the 2nd Battalion 8th Marines were establishing a new base a mile to the north east.

Black Watch smash Taliban drugs factories in night raids

Scots and Afghan troops have destroyed a major Taliban drug centre in a series of night raids in Helmand.

In two separate helicopter strikes, about 450 troops from The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland, and 100 Afghan Army soldiers, found and destroyed more than 5500 kg of opium paste in a large and well coordinated air-land operation.

The operation destroyed ten narcotic manufacturing facilities and as well as the opium, it netted 220 kg of morphine, more than 100 kg of heroin, 148 kg of cannabis plus a range of chemicals used in the drug production process including 5800 kg of ammonium chloride and 2500 kg of sulphur. Also found were eight AK-47 machine guns, three pistols, 16 full magazines and 900 rounds of ammunition.

The operation was backed by British and Canadian helicopters and multi-national fast aircraft including US jets flown from USS Eisenhower in the Gulf. British Royal Engineer IED experts and Royal Artillery forward air controllers were also involved.

Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Cartwright, the Commanding Officer of 3 SCOTS, said: "This has been an important operation against the illegal narcotics industry and represents a significant setback for the insurgency in Helmand Province.

"The Jocks of 3 SCOTS Battle Group simply provided the wider security to the professional and courageous Afghan security forces who have destroyed a considerable amount of narcotic material.

"The link between the insurgents and the narcotics industry is proven as militants use the money derived from the drug trade as a principle source of funding to arm themselves with weapons and conduct their campaign of intimidation and violence.

"By destroying this opium and the drug making facilities we are directly target their fighting capability. The operation has been well received by the Afghan people."

British troops seize weapons stash just days after arriving in Afghanistan - Daily Mail

British soldiers captured a haul of deadly weapons just days after arriving in war-ravaged southern Afghanistan.

Troops from the Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, the Royal Regiment of Scotland, led a helicopter swoop on a supply route used by the Afghan resistance.

The soldiers from the Inverness-based battalion arrived in Afghanistan at the end of last month and officially became the regional battle group for the south of the country on Friday.

About 200 soldiers set off on a mission just 24 hours later, deploying at dawn on Saturday into Taliban heartland on a gruelling 36-hour operation.

Soldiers from Alpha (Grenadier) Company dropped from helicopters on to a known enemy supply route - and uncovered a stash of lethal explosives.

This included anti-personnel mines, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades, which are the weapons fuelling an insurgency gripping Helmand province and the surrounding areas.

British troops have faced some of their fiercest fighting for years in southern Afghanistan.

The captured weapons were destroyed in a controlled explosion.

Around 30 Afghan National Army soldiers were also involved in the operation, as well as a small number of Canadian and US personnel.

Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Cartwright, commanding officer of the Black Watch, hailed the 'positive result' of the operation.

He said: 'The fact that Alpha Company deployed on operations so soon after their arrival in theatre demonstrates their flexibility and high level of preparation.

'It's pleasing to have had such a positive result.'

Major Matt Munro, commanding officer of Alpha Company, said: 'There is no doubt that our first deployment proved the excellent training that we have been through together.

'The use of helicopters gave us the initiative which we maintained throughout.'

The Black Watch battalion has taken over as the regional battle group from Plymouth-based 42 Commando Royal Marines.

It will support a range of operations across southern Afghanistan and is part of the UK's contribution to Nato's International Security Assistance Force.