ONE of Britain’s top generals has been ordered to press Nato allies to send more helicopters to Afghanistan, where they are desperately needed by British and other troops engaged in fighting the Taleban. Lieutenant-General John Reith, the Deputy Supreme Allied Commander for Europe, is asking allies to fulfil the pledges they made when the participating countries agreed to expand the force last year. The Nato helicopter force in Afghanistan has a third fewer helicopters than it was promised. “Nato governments were happy to agree with what was needed, but when the time came to offer helicopters we were faced with a big gap,” one Nato source told The Times.
Another said: “Nato members know that helicopters are a prize asset in Afghanistan, but they have just not been forthcoming.” Lieutenant-General David Richards, Commander of the Nato force in Afghanistan, and General Sir Mike Jackson, Chief of the General Staff, both said last week that they needed more helicopters. In a hostile country with few roads and vast distances, they are essential for transport, air cover and evacuations.
Yesterday the Government tried to play down public concerns about the safety of the 3,300 British troops in southern Afghanistan. In particular, there is unease that the force is too small and inadequately equipped to take on the Taleban, whose forces have recently killed five British soldiers in the province of Helmand.
| The Taleban are similarly concerned that they're out-manned and out-gunned, since they've lost several hundred to the Brits. One thing about the Taleban, however, is that they don't spend a lot of time wringing their hands. |
Tom Watson, a junior defence minister, told the Commons that no formal request had yet been made by British commanders in Afghanistan to send more troops, helicopters or fixed wing aircraft. “Commanders have not asked for extra infantry or air cover,” Mr Watson said. He said that the only requests were for support staff and engineering equipment.
But The Times has learnt that last week British military commanders and officials from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development had their first “stock-taking” meeting in Kabul, where they had a “long hard look” at Britain’s deployment plan.
Nicholas Kay, the FCO’s co-ordinator for southern Afghanistan, who headed the group, said yesterday: “We have all recognised helicopters could be more plentiful.” One explanation for the apparent contradiction in the government statements is that Britain has very few helicopters to spare. Britain has provided 16 helicopters for southern Afghanistan, made up of six Chinooks, four Lynxes and six Apache attack helicopters.
With the exception of one Chinook based permanently in the Falkland Islands, the rest of the RAF’s twin-rotor helicopters are based at Odiham, Hampshire. Eight of them, the newest version, the Mark 3, adapted for special forces’ operations, are still grounded because of concerns over their air worthiness since being bought from the United States for £259million.
Liam Fox, the Shadow Defence Secretary, referred to the unease of British commanders in Afghanistan and said it was “absolutely vital” that British forces succeeded in Afghanistan. Failure would be a “catastrophic blow” to the cohesion of Nato and would “embolden our enemies,” he said. |