Stabilisation in Afghanistan: winning the population from the insurgent

It is often said that in a counter-insurgency campaign ‘the people are the prize’ and it is this mantra that perhaps best describes the driving force behind the Military Stabilisation Support Group – or MSSG. Report by Tristan Kelly.

A Grenadier Guards Battle Group foot patrol in the bazaar area of Shawzad, Helmand province, along with elements of a Military Stabilisation Support Team
Picture: SSgt Mark Jones
Crown Copyright/MOD 2010

The MSSG is based in Gibraltar Barracks, Camberley, and is led by Colonel (soon to be Brigadier) Greville Bibby. He is an expert in stabilisation who was awarded a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) for his work as deputy commander of both the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) and Task Force Helmand in 2009.

Colonel Bibby explained why the MSSG is working in Afghanistan:

“In terms of trying to provide security to what is a very volatile and insecure situation, we are operating amongst people. We are operating in a province that is fully populated by people with both large and small communities, all very closely linked by roads, canals and rivers and the rest.

“So we are trying to secure the population because that is what it comes down to. Because an insurgent, his fighting ground, his battlefield, is the population.

“It is all about influencing the population and using the population to his own ends and therefore it is not as straight forward as killing the insurgent, it is much more complex than that, it is about outwitting and out-influencing the insurgent.”

Read the full story here

Sangin – Then and Now in Afghanistan

Captain Marty Adams is serving with 40 Commando Royal Marines in the Sangin District Centre.

He was last in the town in 2005 serving with the Mobile Air Operations Team, part of Joint Force Helicopters (Afghanistan). On his return to Sangin five years later, he has noticed how much the centre has changed and developed.

Captain Marty Adams from 40 Commando Royal Marines currently serving in the Sangin area of operations, Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Photo: Corporal Barry Lloyd RLC

As 40 Commando begin working with the United States Marine Corps in the region, the progressed made by British troops in the town has made it a safer place for the locals and ISAF forces.

He said: “In 2005 the security outside of the FOB (forward operating base), was practically none. Ourselves as soldiers, we couldn’t go outside the FOB for being attacked and occasionally we were attacked inside the FOB.

“ But since then, due to the progress that we’ve made, we’ve managed to push the bubble of security out from this location and beyond the centre of Sangin itself.”

When Captain Adams was first in Sangin, the forward operating base was still under sustained attack from insurgents operating within the district centre. Now the weapons on the tower of the Fire Support Group (FSG) building which protects the base are largely silent.

“I was here attached to the Light Infantry, and they were basically here essentially defending themselves. They weren’t really able to push forward outside of the FOB…… Now the local community have the freedom to have what is a normal life, which is essentially what everyone wants anyway. They can go shopping and move around free from intimidation from the Taliban because of the security provided by the Afghan and ISAF forces,” said Captain Adams.

An example of this development is the Helmand River crossing which can be seen from the FSG tower. Before, it used to be a rickety bridge that frequently got washed away. There is now a ferry crossing and Afghan Police security check point providing access into the town.

Captain Adams comments, “There used to be a river crossing with one or two boats. It was quite restricted because the Taliban and other insurgent groups would dominate in the area, but now that the Afghan and the ISAF security forces have provided protection, the locals can come and go as they please and there is a lot more activity at the crossing point.”

He continues, “The stabilisation force is the main effort really. They’re the people who are going to bring governance to this area, whilst we the soldiers provide the security for them to do it.”

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Major Afghanistan offensive 'launched in Marjah'

BBC NEWS


Thousands of American and Afghan troops have launched the biggest offensive in Afghanistan since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001, the US military says.

Helicopter-borne US marines and Afghan troops are attacking the Taliban-held town of Marjah in Nad Ali district in a bid to re-establish government control.

Nato says Marjah is home to the biggest community under insurgent control in the south and 400 to 1,000 militants.

Many residents fled ahead of Operation Moshtarak - meaning "together" in Dari.

Nato had distributed leaflets in the Marjah area warning of the planned offensive in a bid to limit civilian casualties. Villagers said they warned Taliban fighters to leave the area or be killed.

On Friday, British forces began a "softening up" process, taking part in a Nato ground and air offensive in Helmand province.

'First wave'

Operation Moshtarak will be led by the US Marine Corps, but British troops will also be involved, supported by Danes and Estonians. Some reports say more than 15,000 troops in total will be sent to the area. The initial offensive in Marjah on Saturday saw more than 4,000 US marines, 1,500 Afghan soldiers and 300 US soldiers move in by helicopter under cover of night.

The assault was preceded by illumination flares, which were fired over the town at about 0200 (2130 GMT), the Associated Press reported.

"The first wave of choppers has landed inside Marjah. The operation has begun," said Capt Joshua Winfrey, commander of Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, which was at the forefront of the attack.

For the first time Afghan forces have been at the forefront of planning and will share the burden of the fighting. Afghan police will provide support after the initial military operations end.

Once the area is secured, Nato hopes to provide aid and to restore public services in the area. The aim, the alliance says, is to win support among the estimated 125,000 people who live there and prevent the Taliban from regaining control.

Looted in the 90s. Recovered in 2004. Now Afghan treasures restored to glory

Photograph: Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images

• Major step in rebuilding of Kabul's National Museum
• Smuggled artefacts were confiscated at Heathrow

It was a moment that went a long way to putting Afghanistan and its cultural heritage back on the map. In a small space in a once bombed-out building on the southern edge of Kabul, Afghan dignitaries and western diplomats squeezed past each other to see into the display cases: bronze age digging implements, pieces of carved marble and elaborate metal goods spanning Afghanistan's rich history.

It was only a two-room exhibit and much of the rest of Afghanistan's National Museum remained empty. But the opening of the room marked a first step towards the restoration of a museum which, before the destruction wreaked during the country's civil war, once boasted one of the greatest collections of ancient artefacts anywhere in the world.

For the antiquities, the exhibit marks the end of a tortuous odyssey: looted during the anarchy of the 1990s, hundreds of pieces were spirited overseas only to be impounded by British customs officials at Heathrow airport over an 11-day period in July 2004. But even after experts at the British Museum identified them as "highly important ancient material" they could not be returned: the museum was in no fit state to house any major collection.

Until recently a tour of the museum in Kabul would take even the most dutiful visitor barely half an hour, so little was on display. All that remained were mostly works too big to be destroyed by the Taliban or photos of some of antiquities that were either long-lost or sent elsewhere for safe keeping. Despite extensive rebuilding of the museum, it lacked the capacity to handle such a large collection.

But after years of sitting in the storerooms of the British Museum and HM Customs, 22 crates of artefacts were finally returned to Kabul in February and unveiled at a ceremony attended by the country's minister of culture, and the British ambassador, Mark Sedwill.

"It is giving the Afghan people back that sense of cultural heritage that was so nearly taken from them", Sedwill said, adding it was "refreshing the history of the country".

For the full story click here for the Guardian website

VIDEO: The returnee - Afghan women in business

Hassina Sherjan returned to Afghanistan after 23 years in the US, determined to create a company that would provide employment to help people turn away from the insurgency.

VIDEO: The Builder - Afghan women in business

Lisa Nooristani is quite literally rebuilding her country. As CEO of a construction company, she oversees school and road projects in the face of death threats from the Taliban.

VIDEO: A novel business idea to empower Afghan women

Aziza Mohmmand was forced out by the Taliban for schooling girls. She returned to Afghanistan under their fall with a novel business idea to empower Afghan women.

Home Front: Afghanistan battle for hearts and minds must be won - Times

Picture - New recruits to the Afghan National Army take part in a training session at the Kabul Military Training Centre. A massive effort is under way to train thousands of new troops to join the fight against the Taleban-led insurgency.


By Michael Evans

It was early 2006, and the paratroopers of 16 Air Assault Brigade took a breather during exercises on Salisbury Plain to say what they had been told to say about their forthcoming campaign in Helmand province. “Reconstruction, reconstruction, reconstruction,” they piped in unison.

Three years later the politics of this campaign have changed beyond recognition. Instead of reconstruction, we have had violence and mayhem, and the public in Britain, in the United States and in every country that has troops in Afghanistan are asking what has gone wrong, and if lives are being sacrificed needlessly.

The biggest challenge for the Government now is not how to beat the Taleban but how to keep the public at home onside. People tend to support the Armed Forces whatever they do but if there is any perception that British troops are dying in Afghanistan for no good reason the tide of opinion will turn.

It is difficult to get across the message that Britain is at war. There are no daily bulletins from the Ministry of Defence, as there were when a Royal Navy Task Force was sent off to the Falklands in 1982. But the “Wootton Bassett factor” — the Wiltshire town where mourning crowds gather whenever a hearse carrying a dead soldier passes through — is having an effect on the nation’s psyche.

Other Nato countries have the same problem. In Italy, for example, the mission in Afghanistan is normally described as a peacekeeping operation. Then six Italian soldiers are killed by a suicide bomber, and suddenly it’s a war, and Silvio Berlusconi, the Prime Minister, tells his public that he wants his troops out.

Germany was the forgotten ally, with its troops engaged in non-combat roles in the north until the Taleban began to move in and upset the peace. German soldiers died and the soft rules of engagement had to be changed to allow them to shoot first and ask questions later. Back home in Germany the “war” was suddenly no longer an issue just for the British, Americans, Canadians, Dutch, Danish and Estonians, engaged in daily skirmishes with the Taleban in the south. It was a shock for the German public and for the Berlin Government.

No government can afford to forget the power of public opinion. Despite the mantra that the troops are being sacrificed in Helmand to prevent terrorist attacks on our streets, the argument is difficult to grasp when even the head of MI5 admits that the majority of the terrorist incidents in this country can be linked back to Pakistan — not to Afghanistan.

Nevertheless, the argument is sound. Afghanistan has to be seen in the context of the region, not as a country in isolation. If the Taleban were allowed to dominate Afghanistan, there are enough links with their fellow fanatics in Pakistan — in the Taleban and in al-Qaeda — for the nightmare scenario to develop: jihadist extremists with their hands on nuclear weapons. British troops are not being sacrificed in vain.

For the full report click here for the TimesOnline

Helmand hospitals benefit from refurbishment

Two Helmand hospitals have reopened following refurbishment by Afghan contractors and International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) engineers in projects overseen by British Military Stabilisation Support Teams.

Gereshk Hospital has been entirely rewired, providing a new mains electrical supply. New power generators and a new water supply system have been fitted to improve the conditions in the hospital and the quality of care it can provide to its patients.

In addition, a specialist waste incinerator was supplied and shipped to the hospital to allow the safe and hygienic destruction of medical waste.

Warrant Officer Class 2 (WO2) Dove, of the Gereshk Military Stabilisation and Support Team, said:

"It is extremely rewarding to see projects such as these move from the drawing board to actual construction, knowing that they will help the local population in the future. There are always projects ongoing and it's great to be involved in one of the key reasons that we are out here."

Bost Hospital in Lashkar Gah has also undergone a similar refurbishment with newly fitted cubicles to provide greater patient privacy. Conditions within the hospital have been further improved by the addition of new water supply and air conditioning systems complemented by a new electrical supply and wiring.

Recently, new beds, mattresses and laboratory equipment were provided along with other supplies of essential medical equipment donated by Estonia and delivered by ISAF forces.

The ISAF military engineers worked closely with the local government structures and civil ministries on the projects, developing designs and overseeing the projects through design to construction and the eventual completion and handover to local Afghan authorities.

The British Military Stabilisation Support Teams have been providing support in each of the provincial towns to assist with projects such as these.

Their approach is not for ISAF to complete the work themselves, but to help the local government structures develop the project from start to finish, involving local contractors, setting up cash-for-work schemes and correctly managing the project. Through such work, local structures and skills are developed, providing invaluable experience for the future.

Under fire but Rachael enjoying life in war zone - The Northern Echo

A STUDENT has swapped her textbooks for Army fatigues to serve her country on a sixmonth tour on the front line in Afghanistan.

Teesside University student Captain Rachael Davies is serving in the Territorial Army (TA) with 3 Commando Brigade, based in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand Province, in southern Afghanistan.

The 23-year-old, who is working towards a degree in disaster management, is helping to rebuild and stabilise the country during a year out between her second and third years at university.

Capt Davies, who has been in the TA for six years, is working for the Civil-Military Co-operation group, which is led by the multi-national, civilian and military Helmand Provincial Reconstruction Team.

Capt Davies, who plays rugby for Darlington Mowden Park Sharks, has career ambitions to work for the UN or an international non-government organisation doing postconflict reconstruction.

During her time in Afghanistan, she was based for three weeks at Nad-e-Ali, an area just regained from Taliban control, following heavy fighting during Operation Sond Chara.

“Operation Sond Chara was all about extending the security into new areas – therefore, the local people were not used to the presence of British Force,” she said.

“Understanding and appreciating their culture was very important to them.”

The brigade also helped with governance by supporting the work of a local elder in showing them how to organise the community in building two wells. During that period of service in the former Taliban stronghold, Capt Davies came under fire.

“It sounds strange to say, but it really has been part of the experience. At the time, it is just the training that takes over, you don’t feel scared, you just grab your body armour, helmet, take cover and react how we are supposed to. When you look back, it is terrifying, but hugely exciting,” she said.

“I would have been gutted not to have had this experience.”

Now her assistance to Operation Sond Chara is complete, she is now based in the 3 Commando Brigade HQ, in Lashkar Gah, where she will be out on patrols in outlying areas, gathering information on the progress of reconstruction and development.

She said she had enjoyed her experience on the front line.“It felt as if we were really doing something useful,”

she said. “We dealt with the local people on a daily basis, dealing with their problems and explaining who we were and what we are trying to do.

I saw it as being an ambassador for British Forces, helping to solve their problems and give them answers.”

*Pictured with her is Warrant Officer 2 Colin Butler and Afghan villagers

See the article on the Northern Echo Website