The Times:
Fury over MoD refusal to buy more helicopters for Afghanistan troops
The Defence Secretary today faced a furious reaction after ruling out buying more helicopters for the British forces in Afghanistan. British military commanders have been clamouring for more helicopters since the operation in Helmand province was launched in 2006.
Last month Brigadier Ed Butler, who commanded 16 Air Assault Brigade in Helmand province in 2006 told MPs that the lack of helicopters meant the Taleban had been able to force British troops off the roads by using roadside bombs. He pointed out that in Northern Ireland there were 70 helicopters for 10,000 to 15,000 troops but in Afghanistan, with casualties rising steeply in the fiercest fighting since the Korean War, there were far fewer.
Today Bob Ainsworth said up to eight Merlin helicopters would be transferred from Iraq to Afghanistan and eight Chinooks which are being converted from special forces’ aircraft to basic troop carriers would also be sent. But he said he had no plans to buy extra aircraft and said helicopters were not the answer to improving mobility for the troops.
He was speaking after the Ministry of Defence announced another death in Afghanistan - the seventh in a week and the 176th since the campaign began in 2001.
His remarks, after giving a speech on Afghanistan at Chatham House in London, brought a furious response from a former senior diplomat in the audience who said the troops in Helmand province had been forced to “borrow” ten American helicopters in order to launch Operation Panther’s Claw, which currently involves 3,000 British troops in battles with the Taleban.
Sir Brian Crowe, deputy chairman of Chatham House, said the helicopter issue was “a real scandal” and told Mr Ainsworth that his son, who was serving in Helmand, had had no helicopters when he was sent on a dawn assault more than a year ago.
Mr Ainsworth acknowledged that British troops in Operation Panther’s Claw had used American helicopters but said Britain was part of a coalition and that it was invaluable to have the Americans in Helmand. “We could never match the helicopter assets of the Americans,” he said.
Mr Ainsworth also made an indirect verbal swipe at General Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the Army, when he was asked whether he was going to send more troops to Afghanistan. “We’ve got 9,000 there at the moment. We have to get the balance right. Those who want to send more are the same ones who warned that current operations could break the Army,” he said.
This was a comment made by General Dannatt in an interview when he was talking about the strain of running simultaneous operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Earlier this year, in an interview with The Times, General Dannatt revealed he wanted to send another 2,000 troops to Afghanistan. His recommendation to ministers was rejected by Gordon Brown.
In his speech at the Chatham House think-tank - his first since taking over from John Hutton as Defence Secretary last month - Mr Ainsworth called for patience from the public over the campaign. He insisted progress was being made but warned there would be more casualties and praised the Armed Forces for the sacrifices they were making. He revealed that more than 200 had been wounded this year, a fifth of them seriously.
However, he warned: “If we leave now the Taleban will take control and al-Qaeda will return. “In the face of the casualties we are seeing, it is understandable when people ask, is this too difficult. But this is not the message I got in Afghanistan. People don’t want the Taleban back and we must stay and finish the job. If you come you must stay.”
Referring to the controversy over protection for the troops, Mr Ainsworth insisted heavily armoured vehicles were not always the solution. “Sacrificing manoeuvrability for heavy armour in every circumstance is not the answer,” he said.
Everything was being done, he said, to target the bomb-makers behind the Taleban’s roadside bomb campaign. He said success in Afghanistan would be measured by “how safe the public feel and how far peaceful life can be resumed”.