Sunday - December 09, 2007

British Troops Go After Taliban at Musa Qala

NATO forces spearheaded by the British are engaging the Taliban at Musa Qala in Afghanistan.

Musa Qala, in the southern province of Helmand, is symbolic for both sides in the conflict in Afghanistan as the only sizeable Afghan town controlled by the Taliban. 

Forty-eight hours after the operation began, there was less fighting on Sunday as troops resupplied and positioned themselves for the assault on the town.

"If you think of it like a house, the house is surrounded, the Afghan army is waiting outside. We are in the process of kicking the door in, then the Afghan army is going through it," said British army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Richard Eaton.

"Right now it is going according to plan. As to how tough the fighting will or will not be, that is up to the insurgents," General Dan McNeill, the commander of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, told reporters.

"If the insurgent wants to fight then the Afghan forces going into Musa Qala will be up to the task," he said.

The operation is expected to last several days, but Afghan and foreign forces appeared to have scored an early victory with the capture of two Taliban civilian leaders in Helmand. Read more....

More information is available at the Ministry of Defence, here:

Now, Marines from 40 Commando and soldiers from Right Flank Scots Guards using Warrior and Mastiff Armoured Vehicles are back on patrol in the area outside the town, and conducting operations designed to disrupt and confuse the Taliban and destabilise their supply routes.

A spokesman for Task Force Helmand, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Eaton, explained the thinking behind this latest offensive:

 "This is part of a longer term strategy to keep the Taliban unsettled and confused. We have frustrated them in what they consider to be their heartland by manoeuvring into the area, and by disrupting their resupply and other operations.

 "It is also crucial to be able to tell local Afghans, ‘ISAF is here at the invitation of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to support you and that we are going to help remove the Taliban from your homes and your lives'."

This latest operation began two weeks ago with Bravo Company from 40 Commando Royal Marines pushing north in Viking armoured vehicles, driving across the Helmand river north of Sangin, creating a bridgehead for the Scots Guards convoy. There has been on and off contact with the Taliban who have attacked British forces with rockets, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs).

Having established positions around Musa Qaleh, British troops have been carrying out reconnaissance patrols deliberately designed to show the residents, as well as the Taliban, that ISAF has not forgotten about the town.

The patrol is supported by soldiers from B Squadron Kings Royal Hussars in Mastiff armoured vehicles and by 105 mm guns served by men from 4 Regiment Royal Artillery. The patrol is supported by an Immediate Replenishment Group and additional supplies are flown in by air as and when required. 

Author: The Machiavellian
Technorati Tags: Afghanistan
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