Isolating and hunting for the Taliban

Telegraph:

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At Checkpoint 8 on the Nahr-e-Burgha canal, as the heat of the day began to grow, Danish Leopard 2 tanks moved parallel with a stretch of water. Their 120mm guns peered into the lush trees and bushes of the "Green Zone", watered generously by criss-crossing irrigation ditches that later that day would provide life-saving cover from Taliban fire.

The loud report of tank guns announced to the 300 or so Taliban who had been living here unmolested for two years that the battle had now begun in earnest.

The insurgents had already claimed an early victim by killing the commanding officer of the Welsh Guards, Lt Col Rupert Thorneloe, and Tpr Joshua Hammond, before the force of 1,200 Nato troops and 500 Afghans had even entered the area known as the "Claw".

Those men had died during the earlier drive, beginning on June 19, to secure 13 crossing points across the Shamalan canal at the six-mile-wide western end of the triangle.

A single platoon of 30 Welsh Guards had suffered 19 casualties as the Taliban desperately fought to stop a cordon being drawn around them.

With the sides of the claw-shaped triangle sealed, the British task force was to start smashing its way through from the east, conquering each of three sectors in turn.

The northern boundary was Nahr-e-Burgha canal, the southern edge the waters of the Helmand river.

The Light Dragoons battle group, led by Lt Col Gus Fair, was chosen as the spearhead force. The Dragoons, on their second tour of Helmand in two years, are equipped with the 12-ton tracked Viking armoured vehicle which - although vulnerable to bombs - are light enough to manoeuvre in the Green Zone of orchards and lush fields, and provide a fire-support with their heavy machine guns.

They also have Scimitar light tanks, with excellent thermal-imaging systems, and the heavier, well-protected Mastiff, which has limited off-road ability.

Accompanying them are more than 200 men from two companies of 2nd Bn The Mercian Regiment, also veterans of 2007, and two companies of Afghan National Army. Later, a company of 2 Rifles was also drafted in for the push.

A few miles to the west, the men of the Black Watch were to make two separate air assaults, landing in the middle of enemy territory to confuse the Taliban and make them cover their backs. In each such assault - one of which is under way this weekend - the "Jocks" were to remain on the ground for at least 48 hours, constantly harassing the insurgents.

As the main force advanced westwards, it seemed to some of them more like the Somme - with troops moving carefully across open fields, crossing streams and moving through orchards before the air was cut by gunfire and rockets. The heat has been such that the battle group of around 500 men has needed 3,000 litres of water a day.

Progress was sometime agonisingly slow. One the first day, troops advanced just a few hundred metres and objectives that were meant to have been overwhelmed in an hour took more than a day to seize. "We were essentially manoeuvring in a giant minefield," said one of the Light Dragoon soldiers.

For the first three days, the gun battles were constant, and progress meagre. The Taliban knew the British were coming and set up a multitude of booby traps.

Laboriously, and with the constant threat of instant death, soldiers equipped with mine detectors carried out sweeps of roads, walls, ditches and trees for the lethal IEDs (improvised explosive devices). By the end of day four, the Light Dragoon battle group had picked its way through Spin Masjed district - but progress was still slow, with many casualties. Three soldiers had been killed during the fighting, including one while clearing a helicopter landing site to retrieve a casualty.

A single company of 100 men was reported to have suffered 47 wounded, although several had heat exhaustion or minor injuries.

With snatches of sleep taken in 20-minute lulls between fights the troops continued the slog. The advance took longer because of the new instruction by American Gen Stanley McChrystal, the overall commander in Afghanistan, to minimise aerial bombing to avoid civilian casualties .

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The cordon around the "claw" meant the Taliban trapped inside were prevented from any resupply or reinforcements.

Officers believe that the command structure of the insurgents is becoming less effective by the day, with the enemy left to fight in small pockets. They have suffered high casualties: an estimated 200 dead, two thirds of their force.

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This is a mission to deny the enemy the ability to operate and function in the real estate controlled by these troops. The locals are beginning to cooperate and show the troops where the IEDs are buried. It may take a few more weeks but the Taliban can be defeated in this area. It is a demonstration of how effective troops can be when they have an adequate force to space ratio. The addition of the Marines to the area has made it more difficult for the enemy to escape.