Helmand Province: returning to danger
Helmand Province features in several threads due to first the UK's intervention (with allies, Denmark notably), then the USMC arrival and being a "showcase" for what GoIRA and the ANSF can do. Now as ISAF draws down, not without casualties still, a thread on this key province will not go amiss.
Carter Malkasian's book 'War Comes to Garmser' has been reviewed elsewhere, but this short commentary on the Afghan Analyst Network (AAN) on the history and current scene in another district, Nahr-e Seraj illustrates the difficulties in claiming 'victory':
Quote:
On a visit to Helmand in mid-December, UK Prime Minister David Cameron stated that when British troops withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of next year, they will have accomplished their main aim – leaving behind a basic level of security. But a new report by the Pentagon tells a different story. On its list of the most violent districts in the country, the top four are in Helmand, the province where most British as well as thousands of US troops have been based. The deadliest of these districts is Nahr-e Seraj where a multitude of power brokers within and outside the official security forces violently struggle for influence. Deedee Derksen with an overview of disarmament and rearmament trends over the past 12 years and the resulting security challenges for this and the next Afghan government (with input by Obaid Ali).
It ends:
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Where this leaves Gereshk in the near future is difficult to assess. Its politics and military balance are in flux. International troops are leaving, the government has assumed responsibility for security, a new president should assume power next year and, at the level of the central government, efforts are underway to bring in the Taleban. However, whatever happens on a national level is complicated by local developments and the volatile and fragile politics and security situation in important towns like Gereshk. The insurgency is booming, at the same time the loyalty of security forces to the national government is not guaranteed. Local and personal considerations trump government policy. At the same time, the formal and informal security sectors are becoming increasingly fragmented. A new Afghan government will have a tough job keeping them in line.
Link:http://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/...in-afghanistan
The AAN article refers to a forthcoming book 'An Intimate War: An Oral History of the Helmand Conflict, 1978-2012' by Mike Martin; due to be published later this month and the UK's former top soldier, General Sir David Richards review is:
Quote:
An Intimate War is, quite simply, the book on Helmand. I sincerely wish it had been available to me when I was ISAF Commander in Afghanistan. Military, diplomatic and development professionals involved in Afghanistan and elsewhere, for that matter read this and take note.
Link to Amazon UK:http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intimate-War...t%2C+1978-2012
Link to Amazon.com, note due out in April 2014:http://www.amazon.com/Intimate-War-H...t%2C+1978-2012
Afghan notebook: Going home to Helmand
A contrary review article by a Pashto lady, from Helmand and now a BBC reporter:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-27408292
Taliban have taken back Afghan strongholds that 150 of our boys died for
A headline that sadly was expected and no doubt is uncomfortable to officialdom and virtually all UK elected national politicians. It starts with:
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Huge swathes of Helmand Province, the area of Afghanistan where hundreds of British soldiers were killed in eight years of bloody fighting, are once again in the hands of the Taliban, The districts of Now Zad, Musa Qala and Sangin have been overrun by insurgents after British troops withdrew to the security of Camp Bastion – the last remaining UK base in the province. The return of the Taliban to hundreds of square miles of territory which was previously liberated by British soldiers makes a mockery of Prime Minister David Cameron’s declaration of ‘mission accomplished’ in Afghanistan.
Link:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz36h2BIwVO
There's also a short commentary by Lt.Col. Tootal, ex-Para, who took the first soldiers into Helmand in 2006 and I cite just one sentence:
Quote:
Now the nation must ask whether our long campaign in the troubled country of Afghanistan has been worth it.