A SENIOR Royal Marine officer last night cast doubts on the ability of local soldiers to replace British troops in Afghanistan's most war-torn province.
Lieutenant Colonel Duncan Dewar, commanding officer of Arbroath-based 45 Commando, is in charge of training an entire brigade of the Afghan National Army (ANA) in Helmand, southern Afghanistan.
The brigade, along with other local forces, is supposed to replace the British when their three-year mission in the province ends in April 2009.
However, amid serious frustration over the discipline and training of recruits, Lt-Col Dewar yesterday suggested they may not do so.
He said: "The aiming mark is still for (in) 2009 to have a level of capability to at least deal with internal security in an effective manner. I believe that is probably optimistic."
British troops have been fighting the Taliban in Helmand since April with some support from the ANA.
Politicians in Westminster have already signalled that the British are likely to need longer to finish the job after some of the fiercest fighting since the Korean War. Since the New Year Royal Marines have scored two significant victories over the Taliban but acknowledge the enemy is elusive and difficult to fight.
Marines praise the courage of their Afghan allies and Lt- Col Dewar believes progress is achievable in bringing the ANA up to a higher level of capability, despite the calibre of recruit and internal tensions within ranks.
He said: "The level of corruption, tribalism and drug-taking does impact on the raw material we have, but I honestly believe we'll see a tangible increase in the capability of the ANA. Whether that is a final version from which we can step back and leave them to it, I'm not entirely certain."
Fewer than one in three recruits are able to read, write or count properly. That poses serious challenges in training. They lack basic soldiering, hygiene and personal skills. Desertions are frequent. In one unit, 40% of soldiers went absent without leave.
A spokesman for the UK Task Force in Helmand, Lieutenant Colonel Rory Bruce, said: "Afghanistan in 2009 will still require a great deal of support from the international community."
British troops yesterday smashed a Taliban headquarters in the latest wave of an offensive in southern Helmand. Around 100 troops, led by Royal Marines, attacked a compound controlled by the militants with support from planes and helicopters. The base, where up to 100 Taliban fighters were thought to be held up, was then bombed and destroyed in a direct hit.
Marines then launched a separate assault on a second building nearby, which was also reduced to rubble. There were no civilian casualties.
The preplanned attacks are the third to take place since January 1 in Helmand, where British troops have been fighting since April.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article