AFGHANISTAN: UK troops switch tactics in Afghan desert

Day breaks without a sound in the Desert of Death as the British Royal Marines clamber out of the holes they have dug to sleep in. Soon, with a few tiny stoves, they are boiling up tea as the sun rises over a ridge where the Taliban still have their grip on towns and villages along the Helmand River. More than half a year since British forces first entered Afghanistan's wildest province, the troops are modifying their tactics, placing less emphasis on holding the centres of district towns and more on mobility. Units now operate out of small armoured vehicles, bedding down in the desert under the stars. The units are called MOGs, manoeuvre outreach groups, and the marines and soldiers say they are MOGging -- living for weeks on end in the desolate moonscape that Baluchi tribes named the Desert of Death. The desert is little more than pebbles and chalky white dust with the occasional tiny patch of scrub. But over the ridge to the east, the Helmand River is surrounded by ancient irrigation canals, providing a crescent so fertile that the province produces a third of the world's opium poppy crop. British troops, part of a NATO force fighting to drive Taliban guerrillas out of the south, entered Helmand province this year with crack paratroops who travelled by helicopter but had little means of moving safely on the ground. They were quickly dispatched to defend forward bases in the mountains to the north, called platoon houses, where they became a prime target for the Taliban. "Very quickly it became clear to us if a village you are coming to or an area of agricultural ground you are going into is held by the Taliban or not because people are more afraid", said Major Ben Warwick, commander of C Squadron, the Light Dragoons, whose light armoured reconnaissance vehicles were brought to Afghanistan in October. "People will not come to speak to us and then quite soon Taliban himself starts appearing and sometimes that would lead to a contact situation where (British) soldiers are engaging the Taliban forces." Throughout June, July and August they fought battles their commander described as the most intense faced by British troops since the Korean War 50 years ago. The Taliban attacks have since tapered off, and the Royal Marines and soldiers who replaced the paratroops have now moved into the south of the province as well. "I think that it's going to take time to give people the impression that we are here to help in the long term. That's very much what we are trying to do and I think convincing them that we are here to help is going to take some time and persistence on all sides," Werwip said. Crucially, the Marines are now equipped with new "Viking" armoured vehicles -- small steel boxes on treads. The squadron arrived to begin MOGging just last week, and have already made their presence felt, driving up and doing foot patrols in villages along the crescent. "Any traffic that comes from north or south is intercepted, we speak to locals, we try and find out where they're coming from, where they're going, any information about the Taliban, any information we can pass to the chain of command," said Sergeant Major Howard Berry. Instead of basing their forces inside the main district centre, the aim is to keep them mobile, out in the desert, with food dropped by helicopter, patrolling inside villages, and easily swooping off into the desert from which they came. "We don't want to stay in the same place too long because people might send a suicide bomber because they know where the British soldiers are so we're keeping moving all the time", Berry said. BRITISH MILITARY OPERATIONS

ITN Source | December 2, 2006

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