Back from the front - Camp Bastion

By WO2 Sean Semple writing for The Mirror


ALONG with 15,000 NATO troops WO2 Sean Semple has been on Operation Moshtarak and kindly agreed to file frontline diaries for us whilst there.

This is the last of his reports as he is probably heading to other tasks and the Royal Engineers, to whom he was attached, are moving on.

Here's what the married father-of-two from Edinburgh had to say about his final hours on Moshtarak - the biggest ever joint operation in Afghanistan since 2001:

There is the slightest chance that we might complete all our tasks today and head back into Camp Bastion tonight, morale is on the up.

Our task today is to clear a route in order for the Royal Engineers to build a bridge over a large river, so the Trojan tank leads the way to the bridge build site.The bridge is not only going to provide an essential crossing point for the resupply of the forward patrol bases, but it will also enhance the quality of life for the local nationals.

The current method of crossing the river consists of pieces of wood bound together to act as a raft and a length of rope with which to pull yourself across.

Primitive but effective all the same.

It is certainly a lot hotter today, there is a far greater need to consume water when out on the ground in the heat.

For a soldier to go down with a heat related injury not only presents his colleagues with the additional burden of being a man down, but potentially the need for one if not more to provide critical medical assistance also.

The climate in this place is mad, it can be below freezing at night time and absolutely roasting hot during the day.

The face and neck is building up a nice bit of colour, the nose taking the brunt of the sun, the resemblance to Rudolph just now is strikingly similar.

I can almost hear the lecture from my wife about putting sun cream on. The rest of the body remains proudly Scottish white though.

After the bridge is assembled successfully, the decision is taken to head back to Camp Bastion to allow the Vikings group to prepare for their next task.

A long and dusty drive through the desert follows, we drive past a US counter IED team disposing of a device in the middle of nowhere, these bloody IEDs are everywhere.

As we arrive in Camp Bastion, we are met by WO2 Taff Williams, one of the Squadron Sergeant Majors, he greets us warmly and is pleased to see us back in one piece.

His relief is very quickly replaced by sarcastic mickey taking about appearing in the paper, squaddies do not do publicity very well.

First off the vehicles are the weapons, ammunition, and personal equipment.

Absolutely everything is covered in sand, all the kit is emptied and separated, some equipment is handed back in straight away after a quick clean.

A shower later on comes as welcome relief, as does a coffee and further squaddie banter.
Although the MSG is back in camp, there are still many more soldiers still out on the ground playing crucial roles in continuing to provide safety and improved infrastructure to the people of Afghanistan.

These guys do not have the luxury of having a shower, or relax in relative comfort.

Weeks to go for the troops on this Operational tour are getting few, and most will allow themselves to think about what they intend to spend their well earned post Op tour leave doing.

There are still many hurdles to jump until the tour is over, but you can rest assured that we are all doing our level best over here.

Battle starts to win over Helmand locals and wean them off poppy growing

Ronald Watson, The Times Online

Afghan civilians will today begin to pour into the district cleared by British troops in a pivotal phase of the operation to banish the Taleban.

Governor Mangal in Helmand Province

Teachers and civil servants, together with foreign engineers, will begin to try to cement the military gains of Operation Moshtarak by winning the trust of locals.

Over the coming weeks, thousands of farmers will be given alfalfa seed, maize and summer vegetables to help them to move away from poppy growing. Local government will set up bases in villages that have not seen an official for decades.

The moves will be signalled today by Gulab Mangal, the Governor of Helmand province, as he announces the end of the military offensive in Nad Ali district and the beginning of the civilian phase to follow it.Operation Moshtarak involves 15,000 US, Nato and Afghan forces fighting to clear the Taleban, and then envisages a concerted civic drive to prevent them returning.

British and Afghan troops met little opposition as they advanced through Nad Ali province. US Marines and Afghan forces have faced tougher resistance from insurgents in and around the town of Marjah to the southwest.

US commanders conceded yesterday that that part of the operation was behind schedule. Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary, said that progress was slower than expected. Admiral Mike Mullen said that the operation in and around Marjah was “messy”.

Western officials are all the more anxious to highlight the success so far in Nad Ali, while conceding that the most important work in terms of ultimate success is yet to come.

Nato forces will continue to provide security around the district while the civilian phase gets into gear. The aim is for Afghan leaders to call shuras, or village meetings, to try to convince local people that the influence of Kabul is there to stay and that they need not fear the return of the Taleban.

British and US engineers will also oversee the refurbishment of infrastructure such as schools, health clinics and canals.

Douglas Alexander, the International Development Secretary, said that the civilian drive was vital to “help people help themselves”.

He said: “The operation is going well but we must also persuade the Afghan people that it is in their own best interests to resist the insurgency, and to support their own Government. The Government of Afghanistan will need to prove that it offers a better, fairer and more effective alternative to the Taleban.”

General Stanley McChrystal, the top US commander in Afghanistan, said earlier this month: “We’ve got a government in a box, ready to roll in.”

The plan is for the number of civilians going into areas cleared of insurgents to increase over weeks and months. Over time the number of Afghan officials is expected to quadruple to about 100. They will help to give jobs to locals to improve and repair infrastructure that has been neglected under the Taleban.

Officials also regard speed as vital to demonstrate that the Kabul Government is in charge and that the international community will not desert them.

Taliban Flee Marjah, For Now

CBS Evening News

Former Olympian seizes insurgents on foot

Miles Amoore, The Times Online


THE bullwhip crack of a single round zipped over the heads of the soldiers as they prepared to move out of a ditch. Led by Captain Robin Bourne-Taylor, the Olympic oarsman and three-time winner of the varsity boat race, 2 Platoon sprinted down a wide dirt track to cut off the insurgents’ escape route.

As the rest of the Brigade Reconnaissance Force headed towards the firing position, Bourne-Taylor, 28, told his men to pause while he poked his head round the corner of a compound wall to assess which route to take. He spotted four men drinking tea, who, seeing a British soldier, stood up and dashed down an alley.

Bourne-Taylor, who won a bronze medal in the world rowing championships in 2007, gave chase and caught two as they tried to melt into a group of locals. He sprinted after the other two insurgents, but after 300 yards they vanished into a maze of alleyways.

As 2 Platoon retraced the insurgents’ tracks, they found a Kalashnikov assault rifle where one of the men had dropped it. In the compounds they discovered a bundle of grenades, bullets and another AK-47 in a tyre’s inner tube.

“Household weapons tend to be shotguns. The presence of grenades suggests the men were insurgents,” said Bourne-Taylor.

“The insurgents realise that we’re not prepared to take the risk of firing at the wrong person.”

VIDEO: Operation Moshtarak - Part 2

Operation Moshtarak battlefield diary: A night on the edge of a graveyard

By WO2 Sean Semple for The Mirror



UK forces are now well into Operation Moshtarak - driving the Taliban back but living in terrible conditions, freezing cold and thousands of miles from the comforts of home.

Here Warrant Officer Class 2 Sean Semple - who has been filing reoports to the Daily Mirrror from the frontline - tells of a terrifying journey and night beside a graveyard.

Not very nice as he tells us in his latest report:


We spent last night on the outskirts of the largest graveyard in Helmand province; nice.

The day started well. We got all the vehicles across the bridge we'd flown in the day before, so the lads' hard work was worth it.

We cautiously continued our move - down a route no ISAF vehicle has seen for a year.

We dismounted and patrolled along a track, assessing potential vulnerable points - the places the insurgents are most likely to plant IEDs - and also where our vehicles could potentially cause damage to the heavy mud compound walls and dusty roads.

Patrolling down the track we heard heavy gun fire to our east and west, so we were definitely on our guard.

Moving on, we reinforce every point the track crosses a drainage ditch to cope with the increased weight of the resupply trucks in the logistics convoys following us. This took most of the day.

Each time repair was required it drew locals from all over the area.

They watched the Engineers every movement and seemed to converse amongst themselves about how we were improving the local infrastructure.

One of the local elders asked for a shot of the sledge hammer and assisted with the repairs. Nice touch - another little victory - and some happy local faces.

There's no doubt the locals are pleased to see us, but they need convincing that we will stay. We need to prove to them that they can live and function without the Taleban- then they'll have no place here anymore.

The Viking support group from the Royal Tank Regiment is providing our flank protection. What an awesome job these guys are doing.

With their armoured and highly mobile vehicles, they are not afraid to go anywhere, so there's no hiding place for the enemy.

We arrived at our admin area for the night.

For once we're in place before it gets dark.

We've been out six days now.

The more the weather heats up during the day - and its been getting quite hot the last few days - the more we are sweating, so no doubt we're all smelling lovely!

Karl, our driver, cooked an awesome scoff. It was a famous army 'all in' - loads of ration packs in a pan, cooked together with some Tabasco sauce and curry powder thrown in.

I wouldn't choose it from a restaurant menu but it was great all the same.

We learn later about the sad loss of two more British colleagues.

It makes you think that it could so easily have been one of us. Our thoughts are with their loved ones. Rest in peace, lads.

Strict battle guidelines hampering British troops in Afghanistan

Miles Amoore, The Times Online

Soldiers from 4 Platoon searching a compound where a rocket-propelled grenade was found

BRITISH soldiers have been catapulted into a deadly and often frustrating game of cat-and-mouse with the Taliban, played out in poppy fields and mud compounds, where dirt tracks are still thought to be littered with mines.

As they fight a severely weakened network of insurgents in the largest military operation in Helmand since 2001, they have expressed frustration at the Taliban’s ability to manipulate their rules of engagement.

Caveats imposed to minimise the risk of killing civilians have forced British commanders to adopt new tactics to hunt and kill the small groups of insurgents who have begun to seep back into northern Nad-e-Ali, where last week about 4,000 British troops seized a small pocket of land once occupied by the Taliban.

Strict new guidelines brought in last year by General Stanley McChrystal, the US commander of allied forces in Afghanistan, have forced soldiers to rely less and less on airstrikes to kill insurgents, although Nato still dominates the skies above Helmand with drones.
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Days into the intense assault of Operation Moshtarak it became clear to commanders that the Taliban’s leaders had either been killed in targeted raids launched ahead of the main air attack or had fled in the face of overwhelming British force.

But, as the week progressed, soldiers from the Brigade Reconnaissance Force (BRF) stumbled into isolated pockets of resistance.

A group of Taliban gunmen, numbering no more than five, opened fire on a BRF patrol as it trudged back to base through the boggy fields, sending four poorly aimed rounds cracking above the soldiers’ heads.

As the British soldiers tried to determine where the shots had been fired from, men from 3 Platoon sprinted towards the firing point.

“I’ve a bad feeling about this,” said Lieutenant George Mackay-Lewis as he watched the scene unfold. Bursting into a mud compound believed to house Taliban militants, 3 Platoon threw a flash grenade in first before firing a few rounds into the walls to stun the insurgents and minimise the risk of wounding or killing civilians.

By the time the soldiers reached the western edge of the compound, the fighters had fled. “It would have been the perfect time to fire a warning shot but we can’t do that because it has caused civilian casualties in the past. We could’ve got them to stop as they fled, though,” said Mackay-Lewis, infuriated that the first insurgents seen since the start of the operation had got away.

As the soldiers again trudged back through the marshy fields, the Taliban sent a final salvo their way, launching a rocket-propelled grenade. But dusk was fast approaching. The soldiers noted the firing point and continued back to base.

“Today we got feathers and a little bit of chicken. But it wasn’t enough for a full meal,” the officer commanding the BRF, who cannot be named, told his men as they huddled around him, listening to the day’s debriefing in the darkness of a small mud room. “The honeymoon’s over, guys. They are going to fight.”

The next day, a single gunshot fired at 4 Platoon triggered a similar pursuit. As the BRF sprinted towards the firing point, a Reaper drone circling above spotted insurgents running into a compound.

The fire support team at a nearby makeshift base watched the shaky image from the drone’s cameras on a computer screen.

Two insurgents were seen knocking a “murder hole” through a wall, of the kind used by the Taliban to fire at British soldiers. The insurgents darted between firing positions, peering through fresh murder holes and cracks in the walls.

One appeared to be carrying something wrapped in cloth, possibly a weapon. The airspace above the compound was cleared of helicopters and jets, creating room for the drone to fire a Hellfire missile.

Mackay-Lewis told his men: “Command wants to make sure they are insurgents inside and not civilians.”

The Taliban’s radio spluttered and crackled into life. “We can see the soldiers standing by a wall,” said one of the insurgents. “Be prepared to fire when they approach us.”

The advance paused as the BRF commander decided whether to launch the drone’s missile. He gave the order to engage and then immediately retracted it as he began to doubt that the men were insurgents.

“We decided that there was no imminent threat, so we held back. It’s called courageous restraint and we try to exercise it whenever we can,” said Captain James Boutle.

To read the full article click here

Afghanistan: Traces of hope in Helmand

Thomas Harding, The Telegraph

The latest push against the Taliban at last appears to be changing Afghanistan for the better.

Symbolic moment: Private Aziz Watandosd of the Afghan army flies the Afghan flag in Showal Photo: Julian Simmonds

Four years, 263 British lives, £10 billion spent and the generals say that we have finally got to the “end of the beginning” in Afghanistan. Operation Moshtarak is in its second week and, like the early spring that has arrived in Helmand, it feels warm and comfortable – unlike the days of hailstorms, cold, thunder and lightning that preceded its launch.

The Taliban face being driven out of central Helmand, denied the luxury to plan killings from their strongholds and raise finances from the opium trade. Of course, they have not gone away. There will be more deaths of soldiers and civilians, in attacks that could become ever more barbaric and desperate. But the insurgents are certainly on the run. More importantly – much more importantly – the American, British and Afghan forces that have poured into the area are getting among the population and preventing the insurgents from reaching the civilians. Although the American push in Marjah is harder going, with the Taliban concentrating their forces to make a stand, the insurgents have seemed utterly incapable of mounting significant attacks in the British sector of Nad-e-Ali.

That the British now have enough helicopters has certainly helped. With contributions from the Canadians and five extra RAF Merlins, the British have at last been able to generate a force capable of breaking records for air assault and resupply. Landing at several locations simultaneously – 1,200 troops deployed to 16 different sites within two hours, in complete darkness – caused considerable disorientation among the enemy, who were unsure where to attack, or which flank had been taken.

And despite the lack of set-piece battles, there have been some highly symbolic moments, which will cause as much damage to the Taliban’s image as a Hellfire missile landing among the leadership. At dawn on the third day of Operation Moshtarak, I watched alongside a small huddle of soldiers as the Taliban’s flag was hurled down from a disused crane in Showal, the small town that was the capital of its shadow government, and replaced with the national ensign. It had been there for almost two years. For a few minutes we chatted, took pictures and shook hands. A text message was sent via satellite phone to an officer at brigade headquarters: “The flag of Afghanistan flies over Showal.” Within hours, the news spread, and a stampede of generals and politicians ensued, which culminated in the arrival of Gen Stanley McChrystal, the American military commander, the Afghan governor of Helmand and the defence and interior ministers.

As I interviewed him for the eight minutes it took us to walk up to the crane, Gen McChrystal was understandably chipper. Helmand had “turned a corner”, he felt – and while he was still reticent about declaring victory, and warned of Taliban violence ahead, he was clearly a man who felt the scales had finally been tipped. His plan was working – endorsing his bid for an extra 30,000 troops, which President Barack Obama acceded to at the end of last year.

PICTURE of the day: Operation Moshtarak

Week 1 - Operation Moshtarak

In the early hours of 13th February 2010 Fire Support Company, 1 Royal Welsh landed in a wave of three Chinook helicopters close to their objective; several compounds and a bazaar either side of the main canal supplying the Nad e Ali District.

D Day: All round defence as Fire Support Company 1 Royal Welsh move into the area and secure their objective

A British soldier sweeps the area checking for IEDs

An Afghan soldier begins to build relations with local villagers

Efforts of the day finally take their toll!

D+1: Afghan troops start to make contact with the village elders

A Shura (local meeting) is held in a compound attended by elders (mullahs)and coalition forces

The Mullahs listen intently to what the coalition forces have to say

Afghan led joint patrols bring a message of security to the local population

Two Afghan soldiers replace the white Taliban flag with the national flag of Afghanistan as a symbol that the insurgents no longer have control in this area