British, Afghan Forces Prepare Ground for Major Helmand Offensive

Courtesy UK Ministry of Defence

Elements of the Royal Welsh, Grenadier Guards and Scots Guards have taken part in an air and ground ISAF operation to the south of Nad e-Ali, Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

The operation, being conducted with Afghan National Security Forces, is part of the preparation for a major ISAF offensive known as Operation MOSHTARAK.

Op MOSHTARAK has been planned to remove insurgents from areas of central Helmand not previously cleared by ISAF troops.

Major General Gordon Messenger briefed the media today on Op MOSHTARAK. He said that the operation was fully supported by Afghan President Hamid Karzai and that local leaders including Helmand Governor Gulab Mangal had been party to the planning stages and are leading the governance effort that will follow.

Major General Messenger also said that the Afghan National Army (ANA) and Afghan National Police (ANP) had been more engaged in the leadership and planning of the operation than in any other up to this point.

The word ‘moshtarak’ means ‘together’ in Dari and is intended to reflect the joint nature of the operation.

Major General Messenger said that Op MOSHTARAK was the second phase of a plan to secure central Helmand from the influence of the Taliban, the first stage being the moves led by Major General Nick Carter to secure areas around Kandahar and the improvement of movement on Highway 1 and Highway 601, which run through Helmand province.

Op MOSHTARAK, which will be led by the US Marine Corps, is yet to begin, but operations over the last 36 hours by British and Afghan forces have been building momentum towards it.

Major General Messenger said:

“In the last 36 hours there’s been a combined aviation and ground operation to the south of Nad Ali, but the main muscle groups involved in phase two have yet to commence.

“And Task Force Helmand, the British with the Grenadier Guards Battle Group, supplemented by a company from the Royal Welsh and a company from the Scots Guards, and partnered at company level by the Afghans, have in the last 36 hours conducted a combined aviation and ground operation in this area here, with the intent to improve security in an area which has been a bit of an irritant in terms of insurgency operating from that area, and affecting the security around the district centre and the bazaar that abuts it.

“They will be remaining there with an enduring ground holding presence in that area there.”

Major General Messenger emphasised that when the major offensive does begin it will be a multi-national ISAF operation, of which British forces are a part.

He also stressed that the areas targeted are areas that have not been cleared before. He said that they are areas that have long wanted to be cleared by commanders and now they have the manpower to do so – both ISAF and Afghan.

In line with talking about the intention to launch an offensive, Major General Messenger said that the plan was to clear the area in a way that was ‘as least aggressive as possible’.

He said “it is about the security of the population, not fighting down insurgent numbers,” but added that a fight cannot be discounted and, with that, casualties.

It was also stressed that subsequent to the clearance operation, the holding stage of the process was as much a part of the planning as the clearance stage, the first not being possible until forces for the holding stage were in place.

On the holding forces he said:

“It has both an ISAF dimension, facilitated by the uplift [in troop numbers], but it also has a very strong Afghan dimension of ANA and ANP, and the roles of those organisations are quite clearly defined in the post-op planning that has taken place.”

Speaking from Kabul ahead of the announcement by Major General Messenger, Lieutenant General Nick Parker, ISAF Deputy Commander in Afghanistan, said that Op MOSHTARAK was the first part of a three-stage plan to increase security in the country.

He said that after the insurgency in the south had been subdued British forces would move to building capacity in the Afghan National Security Forces and that this would likely become the main effort later in the year.

The third stage will be transition and the reintegration of insurgents and sympathisers into Afghan society through an Afghan-led reintegration policy.

Posted by Jim Alexander on February 5, 2010. Filed under International News,NATO ISAF,terrorism,WorldNewsVine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.