British troops face the reality that is Afghanistan


	November 16, 2001	atimes.com

Central Asia/Russia

British troops face the reality that is Afghanistan
By David Ben-Aryeah

LONDON - At the time that British Prime Minister Tony Blair was addressing the House of Commons in London on Wednesday on the situation in Afghanistan, across the United Kingdom selected military units were preparing to fly to the country to take part in a massive effort to "stabilize" the situation.

Senior military sources have already indicated that the prime units to go will be from the Parachute Regiment, the Air-Mobile Brigade, the Royal Marines (with over 400 in the area already) and specialized units from the Special Air Service regiment (SAS).

Their first responsibility will be to provide security and stability in the areas around the capital Kabul, supervise, possibly with assistance from the Royal Air Force and the RAF Regiment, the reopening of Kabul airport, and provide advice and protection for the massive aid effort about to be put into effect.

The second "wave" of personnel will help repair some of the damage that the United States, assisted by Britain, inflicted in many weeks of air bombings of the country. They will include units such as the Royal Engineers - experienced in mine clearance, bridge-building and the restoration and development of such essential infrastructure as water, power and sewage; the Royal Logistics Corps - experienced in such tasks as the provision of transport of supplies, fighting materials, portable accommodation for troops in the line and all of the many other aspects of military life in the field that require professional tasking; and the Military Police - who will provide infield security and protection for visiting VIPs and operational headquarters.

Add to this a number of specialized units dealing with explosives ordnance disposal (bomb and mine disposal) and also interrogation of prisoners of war and intelligence matters.

The move by Blair to send thousands of British troops to Afghanistan to help establish stability, however, displays a lack of military history that verges on the irresponsible. The British and the Soviets at great and bloody cost have tried to stabilize Afghanistan - it is a task that can envelop as many troops and as much material as a country cares to send, and the relentless "low intensity conflict" (to use the US phrase for non-stop guerrilla war) can totally demoralize even crack troops. The Soviets spent 1979-1989 in Afghanistan losing a war that cost thousands of lives and billions of dollars.

In the 19th century, the British, who controlled India, and the Russians, who wanted to, angled for advantage in the Afghan terrain separating their empires. In the First Afghan War, which began in 1837 with Britain invading Afghanistan, it make big gains in the first few years. The British, however, had no exit strategy and they couldn't sustain their occupation. Countrywide uprisings kept them under ongoing siege, culminating in 4,500 British and Indian troops and 12,000 civilians fleeing Kabul in January 1842. Afghan soldiers chased them through snow-covered mountain passes, slaughtering them almost to a man, woman, and child.

In 1878, fearing that the Afghan rulers were making diplomatic overtures to Russia, the British invaded Afghanistan again, only to leave a year later after a brief and bloody occupation in the face of an unwinnable conflict.

In the present conflict, despite continuing reports of the collapse of the Taliban, (many in instances where local chiefs have decided to be pragmatic and survive) the situation remains, as they say in military circles, "fluid". There is no doubt that the "fleeing in confusion" is part of a greater plan to withdraw from far-flung areas of the country where logistical support would be impossible in the approaching winter, given the lack of air transport (the US coalition having destroyed most of the tiny Taliban air assets). It will also enable their conventional forces to concentrate in depth around Kandahar, their spiritual capital in the mainly Pashtun area of Afghanistan and where they enjoy strong local support.

And Saudi exile Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar could have moved to any of dozens of tunnel complexes in the area. The myriad "caves" that have been alluded to in the hunt for bin Laden are not the cold and dark natural edifices that one would immediately imagine. During the guerrilla war in the 1980s the mujahideen waged against the Soviet invaders, the elite SAS deployed personnel in secret to train and supervise the construction of several complexes of tunnels near Kandahar, and also in some of the more remote areas of the country where commanders could take refuge to avoid the incessant air pursuit of the Soviets. The tunnels had sound ventilation systems, good protection from even the largest of bombs, excellent storage and accommodation facilities, as well as communication links. It is most probable to assume that the Taliban have used the caves and tunnels and built others in new places.

One of the urgencies of the present situation is for the country, possibly assisted by the United Nations, to reach some sort of an agreement on how the Northern Alliance parts of Afghanistan can be supported, stabilized and organized to face the oncoming winter. December, January, February and March in the mountains can be extremely hazardous, and in many areas the temperature rarely rises above freezing, even during the daytime. Given the emaciated state and poor physical condition of tens of thousands of Afghans, this makes the urgency of getting supplies to remote areas all the higher a priority.

Given the ever-changing network of tribal loyalties, and indeed the survival of various warlords, the prospects of a broad spectrum government do not look good. As one commentator said, "They hate one another with an intensity that is hard to believe ... the only thing they hate more are outsiders trying to run their lives and their country; indeed, the most unifying event in the 150 years since the British in their red coats marched up the Khyber Pass was the Soviet invasion".

The "battle for Kabul" (if it could be described thus) was unbelievably quick and clean (unless you were a "foreign" Taliban fighter where it became terminal).

Quite apart from presenting the coalition with a real problem in respect to law and order, and the establishment of democracy, it also presents a greater problem by far in respect to the wider reaction in both the US and the UK when, on the commencement of actual ground hostilities, the body bags start coming home and people start asking of their leadership apposite and probing questions.

(Asia Times Online/Globalvision News Network)