Certainty of combat creeps ever closer

HELMAND PROVINCE - Amid growing fears of "mission creep" in Afghanistan, a senior commander has acknowledged that British soldiers may carry out offensive operations in the country.

During Defence Secretary John Reid's visit to Afghanistan, commanders said they had been given permission to carry out aggressive operations, including pre-emptive strikes in Helmand and Kandahar provinces.

This gives the British forces the power to take offensive action which is almost on par with the Americans, and far more than other Nato countries with contingents in the country.

Colonel Stuart Douglas, deputy commander of the British forces in Afghanistan, said: "They could be carried out anywhere. The enemy will be those who resist the law, whether they are Taleban or criminals."

The deployment of almost 6000 troops into Afghanistan at a cost of a £1 billion ($2.9 billion) has been accompanied by repeated Government assertions that the soldiers will not take part in counter-insurgency operations.

Last week Reid reiterated that British troops were not going to Afghanistan "to wage war or carry out seek and destroy" missions like those carried out by the US, but engage in stabilisation and reconstruction.

But British military planners are said to have already targeted three strongholds of the Taleban and their Islamist allies - the mountainous southern border with Pakistan; steep valleys in northeastern Helmand; and a concentrated area of poppy pastures. The operations will apparently be known as "deep manoeuvre effects".

Questioned in Kabul, Reid acknowledged there are bound to be "overlaps" between the British and the US-led Enduring Freedom operations.

"We are here to stabilise the country and the Taleban and the terrorists want to stop us doing that," said Reid. "We will defend ourselves and if defending ourselves means pre-emptive action we will do that ... If they attack we will attack back, in some cases taking the initiative."

The Afghan Government also envisages a greater role for UK troops outside Helmand in other areas experiencing spiralling Taleban violence.

Defence Minister General Abdul Rahim Wardak said after meeting Reid "it is a very mighty force and I believe its size is such that it can operate outside the borders of Helmand".

British officials deny there are any plans to expand the field of operations.

Reid also stressed during his visit that British forces would not be involved in the highly controversial eradication of opium poppies.

The British military in Helmand has sought to keep its forces as far away from the crop as possible.

But the commanders also say that it has proved almost impossible to convince local people that their forces are not involved with eradication.

One reason for this has been the influx of Americans involved in the eradication programme into the Helmand capital, Lashkar Gar, where the British troops are based.

Tory defence spokesman Liam Fox has written to Reid threatening to withdraw support for the Afghan mission if the Government continues to make statements in the Commons which he claims are in "variance" with the real terms of the operations.

The Commons defence committee recently said in a report that British troops being sent to Afghanistan are likely to have to stay there far longer than the three years claimed by the Government and the success of the highly dangerous mission is "by no means certain".

- INDEPENDENT