3 RIFLES and ANA on patrol in Sangin

3rd Battalion The Rifles (3 RIFLES) currently form Battle Group (North), based around the strategically-important town of Sangin in northern Helmand province.

It has been nearly five months since the 3 RIFLES Battle Group started their tour in Helmand province, but in that time they have been out on countless patrols - both unilaterally and increasingly with Afghan forces.

While there has been much focus on Operation MOSHTARAK recently which has been taking place around Nad 'Ali in central Helmand, Sangin is perhaps the most challenging area in Afghanistan that British forces are operating in, and, sadly, a number of members of the 3 RIFLES Battle Group have lost their lives there over recent weeks.

Major General Gordon Messenger, UK Military Spokesman, has explained the importance of the area and why there has been a spike in fatalities recently. He said:

"Sangin is an area that matters deeply both to the Taliban and the Afghan Government, which is why it is so keenly contested.

"The area is currently experiencing a relatively high level of activity. Spikes in incidents have been experienced previously and there is no evidence that this is due to fighters moving from the area of Op MOSHTARAK.

"We cannot discount, however, that the upsurge in activity is a deliberate ploy by the Taliban leadership to deflect attention from the successes in central Helmand.

"The situation is being closely monitored by ISAF, and a number of security and political measures have been taken to counter the increased level of insurgent activity."

Major General Messenger also described some of the progress made around Sangin. He said:

"Significant progress has been made in Sangin over the last three years.

"The district centre and bazaar area remain largely secure and this has given the vast majority of law-abiding Afghan citizens a haven and a focus for their legitimate activity.

"Such advances would not be possible were it not for the sacrifices and continued endeavours of the coalition and Afghan forces on the ground and, despite the challenges, the combined force remains ever more determined to succeed."

Helping secure the area through their numerous patrols on the ground are the Afghan National Army, with their mentors from the 3 RIFLES Battle Group.

Only five weeks ago, Warriors of the ANA based in Patrol Base Hanjar were unable to patrol in the area. However, hard work by the members of 1 Platoon, A Company, 3 RIFLES, has paid off, with the ANA now conducting joint patrols on a daily basis and adding real value to every patrol that is conducted.

The standard of the ANA Warriors is now at the level where they too are searching for improvised explosive devices, side-by-side with UK soldiers, and successfully finding the IEDs.

Commenting on the patrols, Second Lieutenant Connor Maxwell, Officer Commanding 1 Platoon, said:

"It is fantastic to see the ANA taking a leading role, finding IEDs and interacting with the local population."

The amount of actionable intelligence given by locals has dramatically risen since joint ANA-UK patrols have begun.

On a recent joint patrol out from Patrol Base Hanjar in the Sangin Valley, the British and Afghan soldiers were heading out to a well-known road junction about 300m away from the patrol base. The ANA were starting to secure the junction when one ANA Warrior found an IED.

Once the road junction was secured and the IED had been disposed of, the ANA and UK soldiers conducted a vehicle checkpoint to stop and arrest any insurgents that might try to cross the road junction.

A local approached the ANA at the checkpoint and told them about insurgents that travel through a nearby village. This was followed up by another patrol, resulting in the arrest of a possible insurgent.

On a separate routine patrol, UK soldiers partnered by ANA Warriors were patrolling over a kilometre away from Forward Operating Base (FOB) Nolay when a local approached the patrol and told how he had recently moved back to the area.

The local national stated that 'ISAF and ANA make me feel safer than before, I can now live here and make my living working in my fields.'

Lieutenant Will Sutton, of 3rd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment, said:

"It is encouraging to see a local national moving back to the area. Sangin used to be a ghost town only two years ago.

"Now there is a thriving bazaar and local nationals are continuing to move back to the area."

The trust with local nationals is also being built up through the use of shuras - traditional meetings with village elders.

Recently a shura was held in a patrol base in the Sangin area, attended by heads of all the local households.

The idea behind the shura, hosted by the ANA and part of the 3 RIFLES Battle Group, was to build relations with neighbouring local nationals and to explore methods by which their security concerns could be addressed by the security forces located there.

The ANA soldiers, from 2nd Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 205th (Hero) Corps, came in especially for the meeting from another patrol base where they are based alongside ISAF troops.

The timing of the meeting had been passed by word of mouth to those living immediately around the patrol base and to those locals that soldiers had met on patrols in the area. Seventeen heads of local households turned up, including two local elders - substantially more than had been expected.

During the shura, local nationals pointed out that though they appreciated the presence of ISAF troops in their community, they found it much easier to interact with fellow Afghans.

They also said they were keen to see the ANA based in their community. One elder said that it was 'good for Afghans to help Afghans'.

The locals were reminded that though ISAF were here for the foreseeable future, the ANA, with the assistance of the local people, were taking over responsibility for their security.

This proved immediately fruitful and, as local nationals left the shura, some pulled members of both the ANA and ISAF aside to share information about improvised explosive devices that had been laid in the area.

It was felt locals were keen to assist but were only happy to pass information when they felt protected by security forces. To build on this, security shuras will now continue on a monthly basis.

Meanwhile, in FOB Wishtan near Sangin, a platoon of 30 soldiers from B Company, The Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (1 SCOTS), part of the 3 RIFLES Battle Group, recently partnered a dozen Warriors from the ANA to patrol south from their base into an area known as Charkhak Sheyla.

It is an area that had not been visited by ISAF or ANA troops for over seven months and is where the insurgents have had freedom of movement.

The Afghan and British troops visited several compounds in the area and reported that the locals were surprised to see the Government of Afghanistan reaching so far from the district centre but gave them a warm welcome and happily chatted to the couple of Pashto-speaking 1 SCOTS soldiers about general issues in the community.

The ISAF commander in Wishtan, Major Graeme Wearmouth, said:

"This was an excellent example of the ANA gradually increasing their range into areas previously only patrolled by ISAF.

"There are inevitably issues we need to smooth out to ensure that this type of joint working becomes more common but the willpower is there on both sides.

"The locals prefer seeing the ANA and, fundamentally, we enjoy joint operations as it allows us to get under the skin of issues as the ANA understanding of local culture will always be more refined than ours.

"As always, progress is gradual here but it is in the right direction. The passage of time brings us closer to where we want to be in this counter-insurgency."

Another example of the increasing influence of ISAF and ANA forces is the new Patrol Base Mahboob, south of Sangin, butting up against the Green Zone on the urban/rural interface.

The new patrol base has provided a great opportunity to live amongst the people, allowing 3 RIFLES a better understanding of the population and relations to be built with the local elders.

Serjeant Exley, who has been commanding 6 Platoon, B Company, 3 RIFLES, based in Mahboob, said:

"We are focusing on the people and the patrol base provides an awesome interface to enable this.

"It provides a focal point for the population in their community through which to contact us, and allows us to interact with the locals simply by stepping out the front gate."

However, the good work being conducted from this location has been hampered by an encroaching IED belt that has also affected the transit routes for local farmers getting to their fields in the Green Zone.

As a result, B Company mounted a clearance operation and over four days managed to clear 11 devices.

While this is an impressive feat in itself, the real statement of progress and success came the following day when 6 Platoon patrolled out into the same area and found a group of about twenty farmers working in one of the fields they had cleared.

Second Lieutenant Giles Hersey commented:

"Our actions have enabled farmers to go back to work in an area that has been off-limits for well over two months.

"It is these little steps that allow progress to be made in Afghanistan and help turn the people away from the insurgency."