3 RIFLES' CO reports on progress in Sangin

Here is Lt Col Kitson's report in full:

In recent weeks here in Helmand, the theme has been one of continued progress on all fronts. The temperature, the reduced winter vegetation and the pressure which the insurgents face - from us and others - have all acted in our favour.

We have been ruthless in exploiting these advantages and every soldier has worked tirelessly, with great commitment, to ensure we press home every opportunity to increase the security in our areas and convince the locals to reject the insurgents.

Mobilising the population to reject the insurgency is the name of the game; our Afghan Army and Police partners are working with us towards this goal. Having conducted several significant operations to establish ourselves in new, smaller patrol bases with a broader and more comprehensive footprint, we are now living at much closer quarters with the population. This has helped us achieve the meaningful interaction with them that is the essence of counter-insurgency - interaction which the enemy do their utmost to prevent.

Now that we are genuinely their neighbours in a large number of places - there are 29 security force locations of various shapes and size in the battle group area, of which we are present in 23 - we can communicate with the locals on a continuous basis, understand their hopes and fears, and tell them the truth about what we are trying to do.

This is a traditional and remote rural area with few trappings of the modern world, even by Afghan standards. Yes, there are battered old cars, motorbikes and the occasional ancient tractor, but even the ubiquitous mobile phone has no functioning network here. The people have not had the benefit of meaningful modern education. The limited healthcare is normally in the hands of profiteers offering little but quackery for a populous that knows no better. Government services do not stretch much beyond the odd electricity line.

As such, the locals are highly prone to the tallest of stories that the Taliban have to offer. This intimidation and misinformation is purely to cow the population into submission - and rejection of the modern world - for no other purpose than to retain the dominance of power-hungry extremists and smugglers with no interest beyond their own status and material gain.

By getting amongst the population and interacting with them on a persistent basis, we, with our Afghan colleagues, provide them visible, tangible security and protection from these abuses. We can communicate and discuss the pros and cons of the progress we hope to bring without then leaving them to the devices of the insurgents once we have gone back to our big bases. We explain what it is that we are helping the Government of Afghanistan to deliver and put all our powers of leadership and persuasion towards mobilising the population to reject the insurgency. This sets us up to 'win the argument'.

The majority of the people we speak to dislike the insurgents and what they bring but they say they are powerless to resist. Our job is to convince them that only they can comprehensively rid this place of the insurgents and that they will have to put their own heads above the parapet, with the ANA's [Afghan National Army's] and our support to do so. By being amongst them and providing real and visible signs of progress we hope to convince them of this.

In terms of progress, our 'crown jewel' is the Sangin bazaar; bustling, prosperous and ever-expanding as new stalls are renovated and stocked daily. It is unrecognisable from only last year and the local population is able to go about its business there peacefully and relatively unmolested. Such is its success that it is an increasingly visible thorn in the insurgents' side to the point where they are prepared to send suicide bombers in its direction. This is a desperate attempt to push back on the progress that we and the Afghan Government are delivering there.

The insurgents clearly have no compunction about sacrificing the lives of local Afghan civilians in order to achieve their nihilistic and self-serving objectives. In stopping just such an attempt on 15 December 2009, we suffered the tragic loss of Lance Corporal Kirkness and Rifleman Brown, alongside two brave Afghan Army 'Warriors'.

In recent days, we have opened up three new patrol bases and brought the beginnings of security to new communities yet further out from the centre of Sangin.

Initially, our new presence is contested by the insurgents but they cannot keep it up for long; we hit them hard when they show themselves and most of the population in the new areas welcome us. This is as hard a blow for the insurgents as our decisive but measured military response to their desultory shoots and desperate, indiscriminate IED-laying.

Our task is to allow Afghan development and governance to flourish in central Sangin by creating the space for it to take root. The brave soldiers of this battle group are doing just that, through thick and thin. The enemy is out there and we are doing battle with him but he is not at the gates. Fighting is less frequent, less destructive and further afield. Eid al Adha was celebrated openly here for the first time in four years; women who choose to can go about unveiled; people are moving back into their homes.

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