TALIBAN COWARDS SEND CHILDREN TO PLANT BOMBS

By Marco Giannangeli, Sunday Express


BOYS as young as 12 are being sent to lay roadside bombs near British bases in Afghanistan.

While Taliban fighters cower behind walls, out of sight of British snipers, the children run the risk of carrying the rudimentary and highly volatile explosive devices which sometimes explode before they can be positioned.

Lieutenant Colonel Jedge Lewin, 41, a surgeon with 3 Rifles Battle Group in Sangrin, northern Helmand said: “In the past few days alone we have had five cases of children who have been exposed to blasts which have caused severe damage to or loss of hands and fingers.

“Children can pick up small explosive devices when they are playing or handle detonators when forced to plant IEDs. This is a cowardly ­Taliban tactic and when children are suffering the consequences, it’s particularly sickening.”

Last night Colonel Richard Kemp, former head of British forces in Afghanistan, said: “The Taliban have long used civilians, men and women, to draw enemy fire from their positions and the recent use of young children is a sad extension of this. It shows that they’re increasingly desperate. Tactics like this cannot be used indefinitely.”

The vile tactic is being used as thousands of British, US and Afghan troops mount the biggest push in the campaign so far to eliminate the last Taliban strongholds in Helmand Province. More than 9,500 British troops have been joined by 30,000 US marines and a large force of Afghan National Army soldiers in the biggest offensive since the conflict began in 2001. Operation Moshtarak, which means “work together”, will force insurgents out of all populated areas by the end of the year. It comes as the man in charge of all coalition forces, General Stanley McChrystal, said the situation in Afghanistan was “no longer deteriorating”.

The operation will target Taliban positions that commanders have not been able to attack due to a lack of manpower and is part two of a three-part strategy. Part one secured areas in the south, around Kandahar, and improved communications in Helmand province.

UK troops lead major NATO Afghan assault

Al Arabiya News Channel Camp Bastion, AFGHANISTAN (Reuters)


British troops have launched helicopter advances in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province to prepare the battlefield for a major NATO operation, the British military said on Friday.

The British operations are on the outskirts of Marjah, a warren of desert canals held by the Taliban, which U.S. Marines say they intend to seize soon in what will be one of the biggest assaults of the eight-year-old war.

British and Afghan troops were carrying out "shaping operations" in Helmand's Nad Ali district as part of an initial phase of Operation Moshtarak, or "together," a large assault which will seize the entire district, the British military said.

Nad Ali includes Marjah, which the U.S. Marines describe as the last major Taliban-held bastion in the south of the province, Afghanistan's most violent region, which produces most of the country's illegal opium crop that helps fund the insurgency.

The assault on Marjah itself will be the first operation to employ some of the 30,000 new reinforcements sent by U.S. President Barack Obama at the end of last year.

NATO commanders say they intend to turn the tide this year on an insurgency that has grown far stronger and more deadly in recent years. Obama has said he plans to begin drawing down forces in mid-2011.

British troops have been conducting shaping operations for a few weeks in the area, and launched fresh helicopter and ground advances in the past 36 hours, military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel David Wakefield said in a statement.

"The operations which have been taking place in the British area of Nad Ali District over the last 36 hours have been part of that same series of 'shaping operations', all part of Op (operation) Moshtarak," he said.

"They have been commanded jointly by Afghan and British commanders and have involved insertions by helicopter and ground of Afghan and British troops to locations to the west of the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah," he said.

UK Afghanistan forces 'soften up' Taliban targets

By Caroline Wyatt
Defence correspondent, BBC News

British forces in Afghanistan are taking part in a Nato ground and air offensive in Helmand province. It is the first major push since the US sent 30,000 extra troops to the country - but commanders are warning there will be casualties.


The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that a 'softening-up operation' is under way to clear the Taliban from its remaining strongholds in the area.

Codenamed Operation Moshtarak - which is Dari for "together" - the offensive involves British and American forces, as well as more than 2,500 Afghan personnel.

For several weeks, the troops have been working with local governors and tribal elders to prepare the way for a major assault on the Taliban's main bases.

Normally, military offensives rely on secrecy and the element of surprise.

However, this is a counter-insurgency operation. So, over the past few weeks, the coalition and Afghan security forces have been conducting what they call "shaping" operations.

Local people have been warned about what is to come so that they can protect themselves and stay away from the fighting.

By publicising the operation in advance, it is also hoped that some insurgents in Helmand may choose to lay down their weapons and change sides.


In the British-patrolled area of Nad Ali District, these have involved units from the Afghan National Army and the Afghan Police working alongside British soldiers from 1 Grenadier Guards Battle Group, 1 Royal Welsh Battle Group and others.

However, coalition commanders have warned that there will be fighting, and there are likely to be casualties.

Opium trade

British troops will focus on the areas between Nad Ali district centre and Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital, while American efforts will focus on the town of Marjah, which is heavily linked to the opium trade.

The final aim of this offensive is to ensure that the areas that are cleared of Taliban fighters can also be held by coalition and Afghan forces and kept secure.

With a large number of US Marines also deployed in Helmand, British commanders say they now have the right density of troops to hold the ground after it is cleared of Taliban fighters.

They hope this will allow Afghan and international civilian efforts to rebuild governance to take root.

US, British, Afghan Troops Push into Taliban Area

U.S. Marines pressed deeper into a key Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan Saturday, in an offensive aimed at disrupting the militants' supply line.

The operation, known as Cobra's Anger, was launched Friday in the Now Zad valley of Helmand province.

It is the first major U.S.-led offensive since U.S. President Barack Obama announced the new U.S. strategy for the war.

The operation involves about 1,000 U.S. Marines, 150 Afghan troops and an unspecified number of British soldiers.

Officials say the advancing forces killed at least four Taliban militants in the operation's first day and seized hundreds of weapons and explosives.

No casualties have been reported among the troops.

Now Zad was once the second biggest town in Helmand, but is now nearly empty, after residents fled ongoing violence. Taliban forces now use the area to transport drugs, weapons and fighters.

The head of the U.S. Central Command, General David Petraeus, told the Associated Press the offensive lays the groundwork for the arrival of some 30,000 additional U.S. troops, many of whom will be deployed in the south.

General Petraeus says the military has been working for months to extend security around key towns in southern Afghanistan, where the Taliban influence is strong.

President Obama announced the additional U.S. forces this week, saying they will help accelerate the transfer of security responsibility to Afghan forces and allow U.S. forces to begin leaving the country by July 2011.

Helmand province produces the largest share of Afghanistan's opium crop, which supplies 90 percent of the world's heroin.

The illicit drug trade provides a key source of revenue for Taliban insurgents.

Taliban bomb making team destroyed as they planted an IED

ISAF troops in Helmand have destroyed a bomb-making team as they attempted to plant an IED on a main road to the east of the area held by British troops following Operation Panther’s Claw.

In the early hours of this morning American Apache helicopters working for the Danish Battlegroup were patrolling close to Highway one, which runs out of Gereskh to the north of Babiji when they spotted three insurgents in the process of digging a device into the ground. The Apaches opened fire killing two of the insurgents and preventing them from fully laying the death trap.

Specialist British counter-IED teams were tasked to accompany the American-mentored Afghan National Army Highway patrol as they immediately entered the area on foot to make the device safe and to sweep across the surrounding area looking for signs of enemy activity.

One of the insurgents, who is thought to have survived the attack, had run to a nearby mud-walled compound. As British, Afghan and US Forces followed in hot pursuit, they discovered a cache of IED making-equipment inside a warren of rooms in the compound.

Amongst the haul were six pre-prepared IEDs, three 20-litre cans containing homemade explosives, six mortar rounds packed and prepared to be used as IEDs, hand grenades and an AK47.

The strike is a significant success along a highway which intersects the Babaji Road, a key route through the territory recently captured and held by British troops during Operation Panther’s Claw. Since April this year, Highway One has been the scene of 49 IED finds; a haul that could have resulted in hundreds of deaths and injuries.

Lieutenant Colonel Mark Wenham, Spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said: “Highway One is a main arterial route through Helmand that is used extensively by the local population and security forces alike. The deadly devices that the insurgents intended to plant would almost certainly have killed or maimed innocent civilians or members of coalition forces.

“This morning’s operation was a truly multi-national effort and illustrates how NATO nations are working together at the tactical level, alongside the increasingly capable Afghan Forces, to provide security and ultimately stability for the local population.”