Frustrations, setbacks, fatigue and successes — mentoring the Afghan Army

Before leav­ing Afghanistan last week the head of a British team men­tor­ing and part­ner­ing an Afghan Army bat­tal­ion wrote about the frus­tra­tions, suc­cess­es, set­backs and fatigue of devel­op­ing the Afghans into an inde­pen­dent and self-suf­fi­cient infantry unit.

Major Mark Sud­d­a­by was one of around 400 sol­diers from 1st Bat­tal­ion The Roy­al Reg­i­ment of Scot­land (1 SCOTS) who have been in Afghanistan for the last six months train­ing and men­tor­ing their col­leagues in the Afghan Nation­al Secu­ri­ty Forces. 

The bat­tal­ion arrived home at their base in Edin­burgh last week after hav­ing trans­ferred the respon­si­bil­i­ty of part­ner­ing an Afghan Nation­al Army brigade to the 1st Bat­tal­ion Irish Guards. See Relat­ed News for more on this trans­fer of authority. 

On their arrival in Edin­burgh, Com­mand­ing Offi­cer Lieu­tenant Colonel Char­lie Her­bert spoke of his pride in his sol­diers. He said: 

“They threw them­selves into it with com­plete heart and soul and I’m unbe­liev­ably proud of each and every one of them. We lived, we trained, we ate, we slept, we fought and some­times we bled along­side our Afghan colleagues. 

“The work is absolute­ly crit­i­cal. If we’re going to suc­ceed with this cam­paign — which we will — we’ve got to get the Afghan Army and the Afghan Police to the stage where they can take over secu­ri­ty and responsibility. 

“We worked very hard with them and we’ve got them to a point where they are now lead­ing oper­a­tions in Hel­mand. It’s been a suc­cess­ful tour and I think we’ve left behind a very rich legacy.” 

The bat­tal­ion lost one mem­ber dur­ing the deploy­ment, Lance Cor­po­ral Joseph Pool, who was killed in action fol­low­ing an exchange of fire with insur­gents on 5 Sep­tem­ber 2010. 

He was serv­ing as part of the Brigade Recon­nais­sance Force in Nad ‘Ali dis­trict. Lt Col Her­bert said: 

“I think as we come back and see our fam­i­lies, and to a cer­tain extent we cel­e­brate our return, it’s a time when our thoughts also wan­der to the fam­i­lies of those whose lives have changed for­ev­er, the sac­ri­fices that have been made. 

“It isn’t just those that have been killed. There are a num­ber of fine young men whose lives have changed with very, very seri­ous injuries. There’s def­i­nite­ly an ele­ment of sad­ness at this time.” 

Major Sud­d­a­by is a com­pa­ny com­man­der with 1 SCOTS who has been head­ing up an Advi­sor Team work­ing with the Afghan Nation­al Army’s 1st Kan­dak from 3rd Brigade, 215 Corps, in Nad ‘Ali. He has been blog­ging from Afghanistan on the UK Forces Afghanistan blog site — see Relat­ed Links. 

In his last post from Afghanistan he wrote: 

“It has been six months since I arrived in Nad ‘Ali. Six months of frus­tra­tions, suc­cess­es, set­backs and fatigue. Dur­ing that time, I like to think that 1st Kan­dak have ben­e­fit­ed from the brav­ery and tenac­i­ty of the Advi­sor Teams that I lead. Teams that have gone out every day with their Afghan counterparts. 

“Teams that have only been cer­tain of the uncer­tain­ty that comes with that first step out of the gate. Teams that have bat­tled their frus­tra­tions and set­backs to deliv­er my firm direc­tion: to devel­op 1st Kan­dak into an inde­pen­dent and self-suf­fi­cient infantry battalion. 

“Have the casu­al­ties and loss­es that we suf­fered been worth it? Is the Afghan Nation­al Army worth such a heavy price? I think so, yes. In fact, an emphat­ic yes. They must be. Because they are the future of this poor, war-rav­aged coun­try. A coun­try that has been the bat­tle­ground of oth­er nations for centuries. 

“Because, when we leave, they will stay and car­ry on the work of the count­less bat­tal­ions that have already come here and done their duty on behalf of the peo­ple of the Unit­ed Kingdom.” 

Major Sud­d­a­by also wrote about Oper­a­tion TOR SHEZADA (BLACK PRINCE), which he said dom­i­nat­ed activ­i­ty in August 2010. 

The oper­a­tion involved the seiz­ing and hold­ing of Sayed­abad, a small vil­lage in the most south­ern part of Nad ‘Ali dis­trict and the last to come under Afghan Gov­ern­ment con­trol. See Relat­ed News to read more about this operation. 

Major Sud­d­a­by said: 

“The oper­a­tion was two months in the plan­ning and when the time came to step off, it was into the blis­ter­ing heat and cloy­ing dust that we went. It was a 1st Bat­tal­ion The Duke of Lancaster’s Reg­i­ment oper­a­tion, close­ly sup­port­ed by 1st Kandak. 

“This put my Advi­sor Teams right on the front line. But they are used to that. After a night heli­copter inser­tion of two com­pa­nies and the clear­ance of the main routes south by two more, the oper­a­tion was com­plet­ed ahead of sched­ule and declared an impor­tant success. 

“The insur­gents fled the area, leav­ing us to defuse IEDs and build our secu­ri­ty out­posts. But, inevitably, they came back. So, the bat­tle for Sayed­abad con­tin­ues, with attacks against the out­posts and the fight to keep the main sup­ply routes open and free of IEDs. 

“Long after the media have moved on to oth­er things, the real bat­tle to pro­vide last­ing secu­ri­ty for this impor­tant pop­u­la­tion cen­tre goes on. There are no deci­sive vic­to­ries in a counter-insur­gency cam­paign; just grad­ual change as one side wears the oth­er into even­tu­al submission. 

“And brave mem­bers of the Afghan Nation­al Army [ANA], along with my Advi­sor Teams, are immersed in that ‘con­test­ed space’. They fight the con­di­tions, the iso­la­tion and aus­ter­i­ty of their liv­ing con­di­tions, as much as the insur­gents. So, Oper­a­tion TOR SHEZADA con­tin­ues, but at least we hold the ground now and at least we are set­ting the con­di­tions for a brighter future for the peo­ple who live there.” 

Major Sud­d­a­by said that the pri­or­i­ties now are to reopen the school and clinic: 

“After all, the peo­ple are the prize,” he said. “I think it comes back to my first impres­sions of this strange­ly beau­ti­ful if odd­ly alien land: the chil­dren. If we are here to do any­thing, it is to secure their future. And when we leave, our lega­cy must be passed on so that they can have a life free of indis­crim­i­nate IEDs, laid by fun­da­men­tal­ists that have lost both their reli­gion and their humanity. 

“If I ever doubt­ed our endeav­ours in Afghanistan — what some would call med­dling in the inter­nal affairs of a sov­er­eign state — I only have to think of those bright­ly clothed, wide-eyed chil­dren, end­less­ly ask­ing for ‘chok­lat’ and ‘peens’, with that look of abject plead­ing that they do so well. 

“Who is on their side? Which of the armed gangs of men actu­al­ly care about them and through them the future of this place? Well, from where I sit — high in a Jack­al armoured truck, dri­ving around this green and fer­tile dis­trict — it looks like us. 

“Armies don’t do peace bril­liant­ly well, but when there is no one else, who else is left? ISAF may not be per­fect, but it is hold­ing the line until the ANA can step up to this com­plex and mut­li-faceted task. I just hope that I have played my part in mak­ing these brave Afghan War­riors more able than they were to take that task on.” 

To read more of Major Suddaby’s blogs from Afghanistan vis­it the UK Forces Afghanistan blog site at Relat­ed Links. 

1 SCOTS are cur­rent­ly under­tak­ing a series of home­com­ing parades. They plan to march through Lin­lith­gow on Wednes­day 13 Octo­ber 2010, Col­in­ton on Fri­day 15 Octo­ber 2010 and Edin­burgh city cen­tre on Sat­ur­day 16 Octo­ber 2010. 

Press release
Min­istry of Defence, UK 

Face­book and/or on Twit­ter

Team GlobDef

Seit 2001 ist GlobalDefence.net im Internet unterwegs, um mit eigenen Analysen, interessanten Kooperationen und umfassenden Informationen für einen spannenden Überblick der Weltlage zu sorgen. GlobalDefence.net war dabei die erste deutschsprachige Internetseite, die mit dem Schwerpunkt Sicherheitspolitik außerhalb von Hochschulen oder Instituten aufgetreten ist.

Alle Beiträge ansehen von Team GlobDef →