AFGHANISTAN: Operation Sword Strike seen as defining stage in American foreign policy
By Trevor Royle, Diplomatic Editor

THE US military surge taking place in Helmand province this weekend is not just the most serious and demanding operation undertaken by US forces in 2009 - it could be the defining point in president Barack Obama's foreign policy. Ever since taking up the presidency he has been committed to "finishing the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban", and a successful operation will vindicate his decision to concentrate US military resources on Afghanistan.

For the British Army in Afghanistan, the US surge is also a tacit signal that it is now the junior partner in the war against the Taliban. Requests for an addition 2500 British soldiers were rejected by the Treasury on grounds of cost, and by the end of the year the US will have contributed 68,000 troops while the British garrison remains at a little over 7000.

In some respects, the figures speak for themselves. More than 4000 US Marines are taking part in Operation Khanjar, or "Sword Strike", which is aimed at taking and then holding ground held by Taliban forces in their heartlands in southern Helmand. This is the first stage in a campaign which will involve 21,000 US troops, and senior commanders admit it will take patience before any tangible process is seen. By Friday, the lead US unit, 2/8 Infantry Battalion US Marine Corps, had advanced as far as Toshtay, 16 miles south of the town of Garmsir, but resistance was proving to be stronger than expected.

"For 2/8 battalion, there is a hell of a fight going on in the southern quarter of the sector. 2/8 are going to face some challenges," admitted Brigadier-General Larry Nicolson, commanding the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade. "An enemy-controlled baseline just south of Garmsir was crushed yesterday but that doesn't mean all the enemy have gone. In the next few days the enemy will observe us to see what we are doing. Then they will come back with a vengeance."

At the same time, the British Light Dragoons Battle Group is still in action north of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah in Operation Panchai Palang, or "Panther's Claw", which began a fortnight ago. As part of the offensive to clear and hold Taliban territory, men of the 1st Welsh Guards spent 10 days capturing 13 crossings along the Shyamalan canal, and it was during those operations that they lost their commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thornelow. He is the most senior officer to be killed in Helmand and the first battalion commander lost by the British Army since Lieutenant Colonel "H" Jones was killed at the Battle of Goose Green during the campaign to retake the Falklands in 1982.

Senior US commanders admit that Operation Khanjar is a make-or-break offensive. If it succeeds it will help to bring law and order to Helmand, a task that has been beyond the capabilities of the over-stretched British garrison, which has been fighting against the odds since 2006. It will also make good Obama's promise to make Afghanistan the priority at a time when he has gambled on drawing down the US garrison in Iraq.

From an Afghan point of view, a US coalition success would also boost confidence ahead of the country's elections next month. If Afghan forces perform well during the operation - they are fighting alongside their British and US mentors - it will also be a huge boost to national self-confidence. With that in mind, US commanders have insisted that they have learned lessons from previous operations and have ordered combat units not to engage in fighting which could cause civilian casualties. This is vital for any army attempting to win a counter-insurgency war, and the senior US commander in Afghanistan, Lieutenant General Stanley McChrystal, has gone out of his way to make sure that his forces heed his orders.

"Anything that we do that offends Afghans, whose support we need, works against us," he said ahead of the offensive. "So we have to modify the way we operate."

McChrystal comes from a Special Forces background and is intent on using and refining the tactics which worked so well in Iraq in 2007 when General David Petraeus launched his successful surge operations around Baghdad. On arrival in Afghanistan, McChrystal told his field commanders that there had to be a "cultural shift" away from "heavy war" operations and that the new emphasis had to be on the use of counter-insurgency doctrine.

Not only will this give US forces a better chance of beating the Taliban at their own game, but the tactics are also aimed at keeping the Afghan population happy. As McChrystal put it, he wants his soldiers "to convince people, not kill them". In practice, this means the US forces will use their forward operating bases not just for offensive operations but also for winning hearts and minds of the local population. The strategy worked in western Iraq when US forces managed to convince Sunni Muslims to stop fighting and McChrystal is convinced that it can be translated to Helmand province.

"You don't really need to chase and kill the Taliban," he said on Friday. "What you need to do is take away the one thing they absolutely have to have and that's access and support of the people."