Afghanistan: Is John Reid a liar?

independent: Colonel admits British may have aggressive role in Afghanistan

A senior commander has acknowledged that British soldiers may carry out offensive operations in Afghanistan, despite government denials.

British commanders said they had been given permission to carry out aggressive operations including pre-emptive strikes in their areas of deployment in the provinces of Helmand and Kandahar.

This gives British forces a power to take offensive action which is almost on par with that of the Americans, and far more than what is allowed by other Nato countries with troops in Afghanistan.

Colonel Stuart Douglas, the deputy commander of the British forces in Afghanistan, said yesterday: "[The operations] could be carried out anywhere. The enemy will be those who resist the rule of law, whether they are the Taliban or ordinary criminals."

The deployment of almost 6,000 troops into Afghanistan at a cost of £1bn has been accompanied by repeated assertions from ministers that British soldiers will not take part in warfare and counter-insurgency operations.

The Defence Secretary, John Reid, who has been visiting Afghanistan, said in the Commons last week that British troops were not going to the country "to wage war or carry out seek and destroy" operations, but to engage in stabilisation and reconstruction.

However, British military planners are said to have already targeted three Taliban strongholds, one in the mountainous southern border with Pakistan, another in the steep valleys in north-east Helmand and a third in a concentrated area of poppy pastures. Read more

db: Probably