Afstan: Negative UK press

Stories today (via Norman's Spectator):

1) The Observer:

General calls for more troops

British commander in Afghanistan reveals how close hard-pressed forces came to defeat in critical five-day firefight last year

The British general who has been commanding Nato forces has called for a major reinforcement of the multinational coalition efforts in Afghanistan, saying he has 'always been without the resources [he] would wish for' during his nine months in charge and calling a crucial battle against the Taliban last autumn 'a damned near-run thing'.

Interviews from the most senior to the most junior levels in Afghanistan by The Observer have revealed a chronic lack of troops, which will be only partially allayed by the dispatch of extra Nato soldiers announced by American, British and Polish governments in recent days. A series of European governments have refused to send more troops and the UK has only enhanced the 6,000-strong British deployment by around 350...

This newspaper has been able to piece together an account of what happened at the critical battle at Panjway, close to Kandahar in the south of Afghanistan, late last year. The battle, in which it is estimated more than a thousand Taliban fighters were killed, is now described by Nato spokesmen as the engagement that established a crucial 'psychological ascendancy'. However, victory only came after five days of fierce fighting during which the Taliban came close to forcing heavily outnumbered Nato forces to give up their attack.

With troops committed to essential operations around the country, only one company of Canadian soldiers was found to spearhead the assault. Fighting was so fierce that the ammunition reserves for the entire operation were almost exhausted within 24 hours [emphasis added]. Successive attempts to cross the crucial Argandhab river and advance into Taliban positions failed, with casualties being inflicted both by enemy ambushes and by a friendly-fire incident involving a coalition jet...

2) The Sunday Times:

British fear gung-ho Americans

SENIOR defence sources have voiced fears that an imminent push by the United States in Afghanistan will force British soldiers to adopt an overly aggressive approach that will damage relations with ordinary Afghans and play into the hands of the Taliban.

The extent of “frictions” between US and British commanders are revealed in the latest edition of Pegasus, the journal of the Parachute Regiment, in which an unnamed senior officer accuses the Americans of undermining British strategy during last year’s handover.

British troops had planned to focus on reconstruction to win hearts and minds among the local population, the article states. However, American commanders “forced” them to take part in an offensive.

“The UK taskforce arrived in theatre immediately prior to Operation Mountain Thrust, an offensive operation being planned by the US commander to destroy and defeat the Taliban,” Pegasus says. “Despite our ‘ownership’ of Helmand and our request to conduct ops in ‘the British way’ we were unable to prevent Mountain Thrust occurring. As a result of the threat of unilateral action and in order to ensure our own force protection, UK taskforce’s involvement was forced.”

The article goes on to suggest that Mountain Thrust caused more problems than it solved. “This operation forced a change in the security dynamic in a number of areas across the province and played, to a certain extent, into the hands of the Taliban,” it argues.

“Consequently the operation created a dent in the UK taskforce’s reputation with the local population and meant an indifferent start to the mission.”

As US Army General Dan McNeil takes over command of Nato forces today, British defence sources fear that the switch will herald tougher tactics [emphasis added]. While a number of prominent US commanders have commended “the British approach” to counter-insurgency, the bulk of the US military has tended in both Iraq and Afghanistan to be more aggressive...

Pegasus journal here--article does not seem to be online.

3) The Sunday Times:

Job done: Taliban ‘are on the run’
[...]

At Nato headquarters in Kabul yesterday, they were putting a rather desperate spin on events, saying the incursion proved to critics such as the Americans that the Musa Qala agreement had not been a peace deal with the Taliban. “We will take it back but in a manner and timing of our choosing,” said Mark Laity, a spokesman. “It’s a question of if, not when.”

Whoever ends up with their flag flying over Musa Qala, the general will not be returning home as “Richards of Afghanistan” as he clearly hoped when he arrived last April. But he has acquired widespread respect from both Afghans and diplomats as well as a nasty bout of whooping cough topped with viral pneumonia.

“General Richards has done a good job,” said President Hamid Karzai yesterday. “He’s tried hard and the situation is much better. But I don’t think we can declare victory.”..