TA unit helps bring normality to Musa Qal'ah

Just six months ago, Musa Qal'ah's livestock market attracted a couple of hundred traders at most. Nowadays, 3,000 traders regularly attend the twice-weekly event which takes place just outside the town in a local wadi (dry river bed).

Stability provided by the troops and their Afghan comrades has meant that life is returning to normal in parts of the district:

"I've enjoyed working with the Afghan people and I believe that they appreciate us being here," said Corporal Earnie Adams.

"Both Afghan military and civilians have said that security has improved vastly and their quality of life has also improved," said Cpl Adams, a section commander with A Company, 3rd Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment (3 R ANGLIAN), based in Norwich.

The Royal Anglians' role is three-fold, as Cpl Adams explains:

"We send out reassurance patrols in the local area and visit patrol bases. We help train the Afghan National Police that are here, and go out on joint patrols with them. We also have an additional role of providing troops to support operations."

The men from 3 R ANGLIAN are all reservists. Although Territorial Army soldiers make up some 10 per cent of the UK's manpower in Afghanistan, it is rare for TA soldiers to be mobilised as a unit.

In addition to 3 R ANGLIAN, their regular counterparts from 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment are also serving in Musa Qal'ah.

"The Royal Anglians have done a fantastic job," said Major Simon Potter, 38, Combined Force Musa Qal'ah's senior officer responsible for hearts and minds operations.

"Every time there are any problems, especially in the district centre, they are tasked to deal with it."

Major Potter, from the Royal Horse Artillery, said the Anglians had won a reputation as 'extremely professional, having maturity and a great attitude - their wider life experience is invaluable'.

Cpl Adams is a case in point. Although pushing 50, and a granddad to boot, he looks at least 10 years younger and combines experience of life with a physical ability to conduct hard infantry soldiering in harsh conditions:

"The advantage with having Territorials is that the soldiers tend to be older and have more experience in life. They are able to take responsibility beyond the level of their rank," he said.

Combined Force Musa Qal'ah's Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Harry Fullerton, said:

"They have an unmitigated success. Their capability is no different to a regular platoon. Part of the secret of that is keeping them together as a distinct platoon is giving them distinct tasks - mentoring the ANP [Afghan National Police] and patrolling of the district centre area."

Life is tough in Afghanistan for the troops, but rewarding nonetheless. A Company have been involved in approximately a dozen 'contacts' - shooting incidents - ranging from gun battles with formed insurgent units to 'shoot and scoot' incidents where insurgents fire a few rounds before running away.

However, most of what the unit do is reassuring the local population and working with their Afghan colleagues.

Members of the unit are out on the ground in and around Musa Qal'ah every day, chatting with locals and ensuring their security, along with their Afghan colleagues:

"The fact that I can patrol without having to fire my weapon on a regular basis is good. It's a massive improvement compared to other areas of Helmand," said Cpl Steve Walker, a section commander of a 10-man section.

Cpl Walker said his time in Afghanistan has been good, and he's been 'really happy' with his men, especially one who warned him when he was about to tread on a mortar shell when patrolling in the bazaar:

"I nearly stepped on it but a colleague spotted it," Cpl Walker said.

When they are not operating in the relatively built-up district centre, the men are out in lonely outposts, preventing Taliban insurgents from reinfiltrating the area.

On one operation against insurgents, Cpl Walker was told he would be in a patrol base for 48 hours. He ended up staying there for 21 days:

"That's the longest time I haven't spoken to the wife, and we were only married in March," said Cpl Walker.

The security they provide has meant that normal life can resume again.

Local schools and a health centre have been refurbished and a new 70-metre-deep borehole has been built that will provide 230,000 litres of water to the town's bazaar, whilst other small scale projects provide free seed for farmers and water for local communities.

The bazaar, which has had 1.5km of concrete paving added to help shops and stallholders, now sells everything from flour and fridges, fruit and vegetables, meat, and motorbikes, to clothes, shoes and watches:

"The word is beginning to spread about what is happening in Musa Qal'ah," said Mike McKie, the British stabilisation adviser working with UK forces and the Afghan authorities.

"There is real desire for change, people are becoming increasingly less bothered by the insurgency," he added.

Musa Qal'ah has been a critical district for the British. After intense fire fights in 2006 between a small contingent of British troops and scores of Taliban fighters, a deal was brokered by the town's elders whereby they would take control if ISAF forces and the Taliban both withdrew.

A week later the Taliban drove back into town, beheaded or executed many of the elders, and retook control. The drugs market flourished:

"It was a dark period," said Mr McKie. "Four prominent warlords exercised control. There was no education, punitive taxation, and, unless you grew poppies, no economy."