Our forgotten war
02/06/2007
The Telegraph
In one year, the Afghanistan war has claimed the lives of 51 British soldiers - the latest this week. But as our forces secretly begin their biggest ever offensive, morale is at an all-time low. Thomas Harding, the only journalist with the troops, delivers an exclusive despatch
The angry zip of machine gun bullets skims over our heads, followed by a ferocious blast of mortar bombs. "Contact. Contact right," shouts a sergeant next to me in the turret of a Viking armoured vehicle. Bullets dissect the air as I duck down inside the protected interior.
British soldiers in action against the Taliban during operations in Kajaki. The 1Bn the Royal Anglians is spearheading a multi-national force of 2,000 troops - half of them British - pushing up the Sangin Valley, a Taliban stronghold where well-armed insurgents terrorise the populace.
Seconds later, four rounds ping against the armoured plating, causing consternation to the seven of us inside. The bullets are bad, but the rocket-propelled grenades are worse, mingling with the thump of mortar rounds exploding all around us. For these men of the 1st Bn the Royal Anglians, the gentle peace of the Norfolk Broads must seem far, far away.
"Where the f*** is that coming from?" the gunner on the 7.62mm machine gun shouts over the radio.
"It's not far off." Pause. "F***, f*** the gun's jammed," he screams. As he struggles to clear the stoppage, two soldiers on the Viking's roof fire SA80 rifles into Taliban positions hidden in a dry river bed among trees and ruins. "Gun going," the gunner finally declares, before firing a reassuringly long burst. "About f***ing time," the Viking commander replies crisply.
As rounds detonate we can only crouch in the back and listen to the battle unfold over the radio intercom. Within minutes the dozen Vikings of A Company, which had been lining up in box formation to attack the village of Baluzay, have spun around and fired a barrage of smoke grenades.
As they pull to one side, deadly accurate 30mm cannons open up from Scimitar light tanks - aided by sophisticated thermal imaging - positioned on a nearby hill. "That 30 mil is a battle winner," a soldier smiles as the loud bang of shells smacks into Taliban gunners firing from tree tops.
advertisement"It's weird," says Capt Andy Wilde, commanding the four tanks. "As we hit them, the Taliban just drop out of the trees." Indeed, from here they could be falling coconuts rather than humans - but their demise is hardly surprising, with Scimitars firing 200 rounds of high explosives and 3,000 rounds of 7.62mm machine gun ammunition.
"Shall we turn on the music?" someone in the Viking chortles as the battle intensifies. Fifteen minutes later the Vikings set off again. Suddenly they halt. Our rear door flies open and we are hit by a wall of heat. We run for cover behind a thick compound wall just 400 yards from Taliban positions.
News crackles over the radio that an American F15 fighter will drop bombs on the position. "I'll find out if they're going to drop anything big," announces the radio operator.
"Oh, is my girlfriend here?" inquires a soldier with the cheery bonhomie in adversity that only British squaddies can muster. But the laughter quickly dies as the F15 swoops past, firing 20mm cannons with an alarming high-pitched squawk.
On the return pass it drops two 500lb bombs that create a minor earthquake, shaking the arid earth with terrifying force. We immediately begin a flanking manoeuvre to snake behind enemy positions. Soldiers take aim as we break cover to dart across poppy fields from compound to compound - at any moment the enemy could open fire.
"It's a bit close for comfort sometimes," says Pte Tom Holt, drenched in sweat from the remorseless heat of battle and the baking sun. "A lot of friends back home don't understand what's going on here or what we are doing."
But they should. For this offensive could determine the success or failure of the West's forgotten war against the Taliban.
The 1Bn the Royal Anglians is spearheading a multi-national force of 2,000 troops - half of them British - pushing up the Sangin Valley, a Taliban stronghold where well-armed insurgents terrorise the populace.
The British are supported by paratroopers from the 82 US Airborne division, along with Danish and Estonian soldiers. For the last two days they have been engaged in heavy fighting in Operation Lashtay Kulang - meaning "pick axe handle" - which only now am I able to report.
And how much have I seen.
Darkness is descending as A Company, nicknamed the Fighting Ninth, dances its way through ditches and around the thick mud-brick compounds until we come upon the enemy position. Trees are splintered and walls pockmarked by the orgy of gunfire that has hammered into its target.
It is then that we come across the human debris of war - images such as the hair attached to a slice of scalp lying in a small pool of blood.
Those writing about far-off wars refer to "enemy scalps"; but here, sickeningly, is the real deal. While still absorbing this shock, I detect a faint aroma of charred flesh. I am surrounded, in the ruins, by the human remains of an estimated dozen dead Taliban.
advertisement
The latest battle has lasted four hours, closing a day which started as dawn broke over the Sangin Valley. "Without doubt, we are going into one of the most hazardous environments in Afghanistan," Major Dom Biddick, the commander of A Company, Royal Anglians, had told his men.
"It's going to be very cheeky out there." A classic line, worthy of Wellington. "The enemy are well armed, but so are we. We have a serious amount of firepower to call on. But be proportionate in your engagements and sensitive to collateral damage."
Our first mission had been to enter the deserted village of Putay, where only a few hardy souls remained of its original 1,200 inhabitants. Bayonets fixed, soldiers battered down doors in search of Taliban. In sauna-like temperatures of 37C (98F), the men lugged 80lbs of weapons and ammunition - more than SAS recruits carry on their selection course. During a day in the field, the men drink more than 12 litres of water.
Even to those raised in the wilds of Norfolk, Putay is decidedly rustic. Narrow alleys lead into pocket fields and orchards offering longed-for shade. It took an hour to find a civilian. Mahmut Ullah, a farmer meeting British soldiers for the first time, said that most locals had fled the fighting, but denied there were Taliban here. "It is just foreign fighters who cause problems," he insisted, "not Afghan Taliban."
He was "very happy" to see the British, and hoped reconstruction might follow. Engineers will move in because rebuilding - or should that be building? - in this forbidding war-scape is the best way of winning over people and bolsters what passes for local government.
"Tell the families not to be afraid of British soldiers, but if they know Taliban tell them to be very afraid," said Major Biddick, who has the rare knack of sounding simultaneously sympathetic and sinister.
Minutes later we were in a small alley when we heard the distinctive whistle of mortar rounds heading our way. "Incoming, get down," shouted a sergeant. As we pressed our faces into the lifeless earth, the round soared overhead, landing not far away.
We set off immediately across the poppy fields, gulping water as hot as tea and munching on dried biscuits. I am sorry to report, but we were all suffering from overpowering body odour after three days on the go, including two days of travel ahead of the operations. This was the start of Operation Lashtay Kulang. There are likely to be many more days like it - as troops push up Sangin Valley - before the Taliban are finally defeated.
Fed by the meandering waters of the Helmand river, the valley is one of the lushest corners of Afghanistan. But rather than ordinary crops, the fields are covered by acres of poppies, which provide 60 per cent of the world's heroin. If the Taliban lose here there is not only the possibility of forfeiting credibility, but also the immense wealth they derive from "taxation" of the illegal crop.
With its miles of small, dry river beds, pleasant rows of trees and irrigation ditches - an area troops call the Green Zone - Sangin is ideal for defending, as the Soviets found to their cost during heavy fighting with the mujahadeen.
The Taliban can ferry reinforcements from its base in Musa Qala in the north, across the Helmand and into the Green Zone. On Thursday, RAF Harrier jets and Royal Artillery 105mm guns laid a steady barrage of 1,000lb bombs and shells on enemy positions hidden in the caves north of the river.
Estimates put the Taliban force in northern Helmand at 1,000 fighters, who are under the command of two leaders called Tor Jan and Haji Nika. In pre-operation briefings troops were told that the insurgents were determined to capture a British soldier as a hostage.
We won't allow that," said Major Biddick. "We are going on an offensive operation. We are attacking and taking the fight to the enemy." The offensive would initially be "kinetic" - a military term for mass firepower - to relieve pressure on the town of Sangin, based at a confluence of two rivers in the heart of the valley.
"We are going to hold the ground, smack them back and stop the torment that the locals are suffering," said Lt Col Stuart Carver, the commanding officer of the Royal Anglians. "The more attacks there are, the less a feeling of security for them."
Last month, fury at the Taliban's terror tactics spilled over when some brave folk in the village of Kang drove them out. But the terrorists' revenge was brutal: the leader of the uprising, the headmaster of the school, was publicly beheaded.
a
America suffered the first major casualties in the offensive on Wednesday evening, when a Chinook helicopter carrying seven men was shot down near the Kajaki dam at the northern end of the valley.
Among the victims was Cpl Mike Gilyeat, 28, of the Royal Military Police, who became the 51st British soldier to die since deployment to Helmand last year - the 58th since combat began in 2001.
Twenty-four hours earlier the British had begun their assault, following a tough two-day drive through harsh desert. The Daily Telegraph joined the convoy of more than 120 vehicles - including fuel lorries, heavy trucks, Land Rovers, towed artillery and tracked Viking armoured vehicles - belonging to A Company, Royal Anglians, as they set out from the British base of Camp Bastion. The convoy threw up a huge plume of dust, allowing Taliban spotters on motorbikes to report our progress using mobile phones, radios and mirrors.
For two days we drove at a torturous pace over dry river beds, deep sand and rocks, with the ever present threat of mines. This was painfully brought home on Monday, when Cpl Darren Bonner was killed after his Viking drove over one. On the second day we suffered another mine strike which injured two British soldiers. After the men had been evacuated by helicopter, their truck was blown up to prevent it falling into enemy hands.
The insurgents are still mostly equipped with heavy machine guns, small arms, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades. While not yet as advanced as Iraqi terrorists, the Taliban has learned how to lay anti-tank mines in the gaps where British vehicles are forced to pass. They can also sow anti-personnel mines. As a senior British officer put it, "there is the Darwinian theory of terrorist development at work here".
As we passed through small settlements, Afghan children scurried from mud-brick compounds to stare at us from a distance. Fascinated, they studied the dust-caked faces of soldiers who for 12 hours had kept vigil behind vehicle-mounted machine guns. The landscape? Spectacular. Rolling desert and dry river beds, framed by jagged-toothed mountains. The occasional herd of sheep or camels could be spotted in the distance in a setting that can hardly have changed since the beginning of time.
Before lying down to exhausted sleep on the desert floor, I reflected how strange it was that we were becoming part of this alien landscape. We may only have had two hours' sleep, but everyone was abuzz as the reality of impending action dawned.
The Army doctor handed out field dressings, stretchers were prepared and body bags checked. When it was time to roll, the convoy could only crawl along as engineers swept for mines at every vulnerable point. Finally, we arrived at the assembly area prior to attack. Reconnaissance troops, who had scouted the area for days, reported heavy Taliban activity in their briefings.
Major Biddick told me that it would be a serious blow to Britain's security if Nato was not involved in Afghanistan because it would allow the country to harbour terrorists and "plan and perfect attacks against the West".
Troops are frustrated that we - the British public - are not more appreciative of the constructive work being undertaken by our soldiers. Philip "Taff" Bartlett, one of the Welsh Guards' pallbearers for Diana, Princess of Wales, said: "Our families say we are not receiving much recognition, when guys are working their backsides off in dangerous conditions."
This was echoed by Major Biddick: "There is a lot of hard graft and sacrifice. It means a lot to the blokes for their exploits to be recognised in a world fixated by Big Brother and Paris Hilton." I saw that in the faces of lads from Essex when they opened a box of luxury presents from a shop near their home.
The break was brief. A Company swept through the deserted compounds of Putay, while B Company, further south, came under heavy fire from entrenched enemy positions. They suffered one injury, but killed at least five Taliban.
Constant explosions could be heard as we moved from the pleasant surroundings of Putay's orchards and tree lined wadis, or valleys. At times it was like strolling through some hot, bucolic stretch of Provence, with poppies growing instead of wheat. But soldiers talk of "the surreal turning to the real" in Afghanistan when, in an instant, peace becomes war. I learned this first-hand when I was staring at that scalp, smelling the remains of burnt Taliban.
The "pick axe" is beginning to hurt these remorseless warriors.
In the early hours of Thursday morning, troops who had been in the field for 23 hours moved into another occupied village, after being tipped off by a local that insurgents planned an ambush. Shells from Scimitars whistled overhead and slammed into enemy positions. The village cleared, British commanders held a meeting with elders and arranged for JCBs to dig trenches to save the crops.
Will such feats defeat the Taliban and create a civil society? Whisper it for now, but this is a war, a necessary war, that the West might just win. It would be an outcome that would change geo-politics.
But the war's most shocking feature is that back on the Anglian plains and indeed across Albion, few seem to care.
British soldiers from the 1st bn The Royal Anglian Regiment are leading paratroopers from the 82nd US Airborne division along with Danish and Estonian soldiers in an effort to push the Taliban out of a major stronghold in Sangin Valley, Helmand province
--------------
The Daily Telegraph's defence correspondent Thomas Harding and photographer Christopher Pledger have been embedded with British soldiers during Operation Lashtay Kulang, their biggest offensive since entering Afghanistan
----------------
The Sangin Valley is dominated by the Taliban, who have been terrorising the local population
---------------
Nato troops (shown here are the British) in a convoy of more than 120 vehicles are working to secure the area so they can bring in engineers to reconstruct the impoverished valley
---------------
The area is a huge centre for poppy fields that are said to provide heroin to up to 60 per cent of the world's market
---------------
In briefings before the operation, troops were told that the insurgents were determined to capture a British soldier as a hostage for their propaganda campaign
--------------
One goal behind the offensive is to win local support
--------------
Last month local frustration at the Taliban's terror tactics spilled over when people in the village of Kang pushed them out. But the terrorists' revenge was brutal, with the leader of the uprising, the local school's head teacher, publicly beheaded
------------
The insurgents are still mostly equipped with heavy machine guns, small arms, mortars and rocket propelled grenades
--------------
But the terrorists are also rapidly developing mine laying skills that have had a deadly effect on the British troops
----------------
Throwing up a huge plume of dust, it is easy for Taliban scouts on motor bikes to report the convoy's progress using mobile phones
---------------
Foreign fighters provide a minority of the force; the majority are Afghans
telegraph.co.uk
02/06/2007
The Telegraph
In one year, the Afghanistan war has claimed the lives of 51 British soldiers - the latest this week. But as our forces secretly begin their biggest ever offensive, morale is at an all-time low. Thomas Harding, the only journalist with the troops, delivers an exclusive despatch
The angry zip of machine gun bullets skims over our heads, followed by a ferocious blast of mortar bombs. "Contact. Contact right," shouts a sergeant next to me in the turret of a Viking armoured vehicle. Bullets dissect the air as I duck down inside the protected interior.
British soldiers in action against the Taliban during operations in Kajaki. The 1Bn the Royal Anglians is spearheading a multi-national force of 2,000 troops - half of them British - pushing up the Sangin Valley, a Taliban stronghold where well-armed insurgents terrorise the populace.
Seconds later, four rounds ping against the armoured plating, causing consternation to the seven of us inside. The bullets are bad, but the rocket-propelled grenades are worse, mingling with the thump of mortar rounds exploding all around us. For these men of the 1st Bn the Royal Anglians, the gentle peace of the Norfolk Broads must seem far, far away.
"Where the f*** is that coming from?" the gunner on the 7.62mm machine gun shouts over the radio.
"It's not far off." Pause. "F***, f*** the gun's jammed," he screams. As he struggles to clear the stoppage, two soldiers on the Viking's roof fire SA80 rifles into Taliban positions hidden in a dry river bed among trees and ruins. "Gun going," the gunner finally declares, before firing a reassuringly long burst. "About f***ing time," the Viking commander replies crisply.
As rounds detonate we can only crouch in the back and listen to the battle unfold over the radio intercom. Within minutes the dozen Vikings of A Company, which had been lining up in box formation to attack the village of Baluzay, have spun around and fired a barrage of smoke grenades.
As they pull to one side, deadly accurate 30mm cannons open up from Scimitar light tanks - aided by sophisticated thermal imaging - positioned on a nearby hill. "That 30 mil is a battle winner," a soldier smiles as the loud bang of shells smacks into Taliban gunners firing from tree tops.
advertisement"It's weird," says Capt Andy Wilde, commanding the four tanks. "As we hit them, the Taliban just drop out of the trees." Indeed, from here they could be falling coconuts rather than humans - but their demise is hardly surprising, with Scimitars firing 200 rounds of high explosives and 3,000 rounds of 7.62mm machine gun ammunition.
"Shall we turn on the music?" someone in the Viking chortles as the battle intensifies. Fifteen minutes later the Vikings set off again. Suddenly they halt. Our rear door flies open and we are hit by a wall of heat. We run for cover behind a thick compound wall just 400 yards from Taliban positions.
News crackles over the radio that an American F15 fighter will drop bombs on the position. "I'll find out if they're going to drop anything big," announces the radio operator.
"Oh, is my girlfriend here?" inquires a soldier with the cheery bonhomie in adversity that only British squaddies can muster. But the laughter quickly dies as the F15 swoops past, firing 20mm cannons with an alarming high-pitched squawk.
On the return pass it drops two 500lb bombs that create a minor earthquake, shaking the arid earth with terrifying force. We immediately begin a flanking manoeuvre to snake behind enemy positions. Soldiers take aim as we break cover to dart across poppy fields from compound to compound - at any moment the enemy could open fire.
"It's a bit close for comfort sometimes," says Pte Tom Holt, drenched in sweat from the remorseless heat of battle and the baking sun. "A lot of friends back home don't understand what's going on here or what we are doing."
But they should. For this offensive could determine the success or failure of the West's forgotten war against the Taliban.
The 1Bn the Royal Anglians is spearheading a multi-national force of 2,000 troops - half of them British - pushing up the Sangin Valley, a Taliban stronghold where well-armed insurgents terrorise the populace.
The British are supported by paratroopers from the 82 US Airborne division, along with Danish and Estonian soldiers. For the last two days they have been engaged in heavy fighting in Operation Lashtay Kulang - meaning "pick axe handle" - which only now am I able to report.
And how much have I seen.
Darkness is descending as A Company, nicknamed the Fighting Ninth, dances its way through ditches and around the thick mud-brick compounds until we come upon the enemy position. Trees are splintered and walls pockmarked by the orgy of gunfire that has hammered into its target.
It is then that we come across the human debris of war - images such as the hair attached to a slice of scalp lying in a small pool of blood.
Those writing about far-off wars refer to "enemy scalps"; but here, sickeningly, is the real deal. While still absorbing this shock, I detect a faint aroma of charred flesh. I am surrounded, in the ruins, by the human remains of an estimated dozen dead Taliban.
advertisement
The latest battle has lasted four hours, closing a day which started as dawn broke over the Sangin Valley. "Without doubt, we are going into one of the most hazardous environments in Afghanistan," Major Dom Biddick, the commander of A Company, Royal Anglians, had told his men.
"It's going to be very cheeky out there." A classic line, worthy of Wellington. "The enemy are well armed, but so are we. We have a serious amount of firepower to call on. But be proportionate in your engagements and sensitive to collateral damage."
Our first mission had been to enter the deserted village of Putay, where only a few hardy souls remained of its original 1,200 inhabitants. Bayonets fixed, soldiers battered down doors in search of Taliban. In sauna-like temperatures of 37C (98F), the men lugged 80lbs of weapons and ammunition - more than SAS recruits carry on their selection course. During a day in the field, the men drink more than 12 litres of water.
Even to those raised in the wilds of Norfolk, Putay is decidedly rustic. Narrow alleys lead into pocket fields and orchards offering longed-for shade. It took an hour to find a civilian. Mahmut Ullah, a farmer meeting British soldiers for the first time, said that most locals had fled the fighting, but denied there were Taliban here. "It is just foreign fighters who cause problems," he insisted, "not Afghan Taliban."
He was "very happy" to see the British, and hoped reconstruction might follow. Engineers will move in because rebuilding - or should that be building? - in this forbidding war-scape is the best way of winning over people and bolsters what passes for local government.
"Tell the families not to be afraid of British soldiers, but if they know Taliban tell them to be very afraid," said Major Biddick, who has the rare knack of sounding simultaneously sympathetic and sinister.
Minutes later we were in a small alley when we heard the distinctive whistle of mortar rounds heading our way. "Incoming, get down," shouted a sergeant. As we pressed our faces into the lifeless earth, the round soared overhead, landing not far away.
We set off immediately across the poppy fields, gulping water as hot as tea and munching on dried biscuits. I am sorry to report, but we were all suffering from overpowering body odour after three days on the go, including two days of travel ahead of the operations. This was the start of Operation Lashtay Kulang. There are likely to be many more days like it - as troops push up Sangin Valley - before the Taliban are finally defeated.
Fed by the meandering waters of the Helmand river, the valley is one of the lushest corners of Afghanistan. But rather than ordinary crops, the fields are covered by acres of poppies, which provide 60 per cent of the world's heroin. If the Taliban lose here there is not only the possibility of forfeiting credibility, but also the immense wealth they derive from "taxation" of the illegal crop.
With its miles of small, dry river beds, pleasant rows of trees and irrigation ditches - an area troops call the Green Zone - Sangin is ideal for defending, as the Soviets found to their cost during heavy fighting with the mujahadeen.
The Taliban can ferry reinforcements from its base in Musa Qala in the north, across the Helmand and into the Green Zone. On Thursday, RAF Harrier jets and Royal Artillery 105mm guns laid a steady barrage of 1,000lb bombs and shells on enemy positions hidden in the caves north of the river.
Estimates put the Taliban force in northern Helmand at 1,000 fighters, who are under the command of two leaders called Tor Jan and Haji Nika. In pre-operation briefings troops were told that the insurgents were determined to capture a British soldier as a hostage.
We won't allow that," said Major Biddick. "We are going on an offensive operation. We are attacking and taking the fight to the enemy." The offensive would initially be "kinetic" - a military term for mass firepower - to relieve pressure on the town of Sangin, based at a confluence of two rivers in the heart of the valley.
"We are going to hold the ground, smack them back and stop the torment that the locals are suffering," said Lt Col Stuart Carver, the commanding officer of the Royal Anglians. "The more attacks there are, the less a feeling of security for them."
Last month, fury at the Taliban's terror tactics spilled over when some brave folk in the village of Kang drove them out. But the terrorists' revenge was brutal: the leader of the uprising, the headmaster of the school, was publicly beheaded.
a
America suffered the first major casualties in the offensive on Wednesday evening, when a Chinook helicopter carrying seven men was shot down near the Kajaki dam at the northern end of the valley.
Among the victims was Cpl Mike Gilyeat, 28, of the Royal Military Police, who became the 51st British soldier to die since deployment to Helmand last year - the 58th since combat began in 2001.
Twenty-four hours earlier the British had begun their assault, following a tough two-day drive through harsh desert. The Daily Telegraph joined the convoy of more than 120 vehicles - including fuel lorries, heavy trucks, Land Rovers, towed artillery and tracked Viking armoured vehicles - belonging to A Company, Royal Anglians, as they set out from the British base of Camp Bastion. The convoy threw up a huge plume of dust, allowing Taliban spotters on motorbikes to report our progress using mobile phones, radios and mirrors.
For two days we drove at a torturous pace over dry river beds, deep sand and rocks, with the ever present threat of mines. This was painfully brought home on Monday, when Cpl Darren Bonner was killed after his Viking drove over one. On the second day we suffered another mine strike which injured two British soldiers. After the men had been evacuated by helicopter, their truck was blown up to prevent it falling into enemy hands.
The insurgents are still mostly equipped with heavy machine guns, small arms, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades. While not yet as advanced as Iraqi terrorists, the Taliban has learned how to lay anti-tank mines in the gaps where British vehicles are forced to pass. They can also sow anti-personnel mines. As a senior British officer put it, "there is the Darwinian theory of terrorist development at work here".
As we passed through small settlements, Afghan children scurried from mud-brick compounds to stare at us from a distance. Fascinated, they studied the dust-caked faces of soldiers who for 12 hours had kept vigil behind vehicle-mounted machine guns. The landscape? Spectacular. Rolling desert and dry river beds, framed by jagged-toothed mountains. The occasional herd of sheep or camels could be spotted in the distance in a setting that can hardly have changed since the beginning of time.
Before lying down to exhausted sleep on the desert floor, I reflected how strange it was that we were becoming part of this alien landscape. We may only have had two hours' sleep, but everyone was abuzz as the reality of impending action dawned.
The Army doctor handed out field dressings, stretchers were prepared and body bags checked. When it was time to roll, the convoy could only crawl along as engineers swept for mines at every vulnerable point. Finally, we arrived at the assembly area prior to attack. Reconnaissance troops, who had scouted the area for days, reported heavy Taliban activity in their briefings.
Major Biddick told me that it would be a serious blow to Britain's security if Nato was not involved in Afghanistan because it would allow the country to harbour terrorists and "plan and perfect attacks against the West".
Troops are frustrated that we - the British public - are not more appreciative of the constructive work being undertaken by our soldiers. Philip "Taff" Bartlett, one of the Welsh Guards' pallbearers for Diana, Princess of Wales, said: "Our families say we are not receiving much recognition, when guys are working their backsides off in dangerous conditions."
This was echoed by Major Biddick: "There is a lot of hard graft and sacrifice. It means a lot to the blokes for their exploits to be recognised in a world fixated by Big Brother and Paris Hilton." I saw that in the faces of lads from Essex when they opened a box of luxury presents from a shop near their home.
The break was brief. A Company swept through the deserted compounds of Putay, while B Company, further south, came under heavy fire from entrenched enemy positions. They suffered one injury, but killed at least five Taliban.
Constant explosions could be heard as we moved from the pleasant surroundings of Putay's orchards and tree lined wadis, or valleys. At times it was like strolling through some hot, bucolic stretch of Provence, with poppies growing instead of wheat. But soldiers talk of "the surreal turning to the real" in Afghanistan when, in an instant, peace becomes war. I learned this first-hand when I was staring at that scalp, smelling the remains of burnt Taliban.
The "pick axe" is beginning to hurt these remorseless warriors.
In the early hours of Thursday morning, troops who had been in the field for 23 hours moved into another occupied village, after being tipped off by a local that insurgents planned an ambush. Shells from Scimitars whistled overhead and slammed into enemy positions. The village cleared, British commanders held a meeting with elders and arranged for JCBs to dig trenches to save the crops.
Will such feats defeat the Taliban and create a civil society? Whisper it for now, but this is a war, a necessary war, that the West might just win. It would be an outcome that would change geo-politics.
But the war's most shocking feature is that back on the Anglian plains and indeed across Albion, few seem to care.
British soldiers from the 1st bn The Royal Anglian Regiment are leading paratroopers from the 82nd US Airborne division along with Danish and Estonian soldiers in an effort to push the Taliban out of a major stronghold in Sangin Valley, Helmand province
--------------
The Daily Telegraph's defence correspondent Thomas Harding and photographer Christopher Pledger have been embedded with British soldiers during Operation Lashtay Kulang, their biggest offensive since entering Afghanistan
----------------
The Sangin Valley is dominated by the Taliban, who have been terrorising the local population
---------------
Nato troops (shown here are the British) in a convoy of more than 120 vehicles are working to secure the area so they can bring in engineers to reconstruct the impoverished valley
---------------
The area is a huge centre for poppy fields that are said to provide heroin to up to 60 per cent of the world's market
---------------
In briefings before the operation, troops were told that the insurgents were determined to capture a British soldier as a hostage for their propaganda campaign
--------------
One goal behind the offensive is to win local support
--------------
Last month local frustration at the Taliban's terror tactics spilled over when people in the village of Kang pushed them out. But the terrorists' revenge was brutal, with the leader of the uprising, the local school's head teacher, publicly beheaded
------------
The insurgents are still mostly equipped with heavy machine guns, small arms, mortars and rocket propelled grenades
--------------
But the terrorists are also rapidly developing mine laying skills that have had a deadly effect on the British troops
----------------
Throwing up a huge plume of dust, it is easy for Taliban scouts on motor bikes to report the convoy's progress using mobile phones
---------------
Foreign fighters provide a minority of the force; the majority are Afghans
telegraph.co.uk