The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been two hundred years.
These nations have progressed through this sequence:
From bondage to spiritual faith;
from spiritual faith to great courage;
from courage to liberty;
from liberty to abundance;
from abundance to selfishness;
from selfishness to complacency;
from complaceny to apathy;
from apathy to dependence;
from dependency back again into bondage.
Sir Alex Fraser Tyler: (1742-1813) Scottish jurist and historian

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.

defpro.news



Company or Organisation Portrait:
UK Ministry of Defence