Afghan insurgents remain a ‘ruthless’ threat

But Brigadier Bob Bruce said he remained “cautiously optimistic” about progress in Afghanistan.

Brig Bruce, commanding officer of 4 Mechanized Brigade, has recently returned from Afghanistan where he served as Commander Task Force Helmand.

He told reporters in London Afghan security forces had made significant progress and were taking the lead in providing security in Helmand.

He said they still needed help, especially in areas including casualty evacuation and counter-IED (improvised explosive device) work, but confidence was growing in the Afghan security forces to protect people in the area.

He said: “I am cautiously optimistic. Let me be really clear, the insurgency has not been defeated and it has not gone away. It’s still there and it’s ruthless and it’s still effective.

“However, fundamentally now people know they are being protected by their own security forces with Isaf (International Security Assistance Force) and central government operating in support.”

His optimism was echoed by the UK’s most senior officer in Afghanistan, Lieutenant General Nick Carter, deputy commander of Isaf, who said it was “absolutely the case” that the Afghans would be ready to assume complete responsibility by the end of 2014.

With 20 months to go until the end of the mission, he said it was moving into the last stage of transition.

Speaking from Kabul, Lt Gen Carter said: “It’s absolutely the case that the Afghans will be ready to assume the responsibility for the security lead.

“It’s also absolutely the case that they will be able to secure their population during the election and we’re also confident that they will be able to assume complete responsibility from the end of 2014.”

He admitted there had been setbacks, but said improvements across Afghanistan over the past decade included telecoms, highways, the economy and education – with the number of schools rising from 650 10 years ago to 37,000 now, and six million children in school, 40 per cent of whom are girls.

“The plain fact is that Afghans have expectations now that they didn’t have 10 years ago,” he added. “They are not going to welcome back the sort of Taliban government that there was in the year 2000 or 2001.”

He said the insurgency still had “significant capability,” pointing to an attack on a court this month which left 44 dead.

“They are still able to mount ‘spectaculars’, as the tragic courtroom attack in Farah demonstrated just two weeks ago, and they do have the capability to mount these insider threats which have become so insidious over the course of the last year to 18 months.

“However life is different for them now and they have to think quite hard about it.”

He said the challenge would be next year’s Afghan election and the political transition that would go with it, and the key was Afghan confidence in continuing support.

“As long as we can take the Afghan population with us, and providing we can demonstrate that our commitment is a continuum as I have described, then I’m pretty confident that things are pointed in the right direction.”

Brig Bruce said when he took over as commander of Task Force Helmand in October last year, the task force occupied 37 bases. It now only occupies 12 – 25 have been closed or transferred to Afghan forces.

“Many people predicted to me that this would be a messy affair. Nothing could have been further from the truth,” he said.

“We did not have to delay a single base closure or transfer by as much as five minutes in response to anything the insurgents had to offer.”

As international forces work towards a drawdown, numbers of British troops are expected to remain stable in Helmand ahead of the traditional summer “fighting season”.