Op Minimise

May 15, 2011 

“OP Minimise" has just been called,” our Warthog commander informed us as we approached our home from home for the next four days in Nahr-e Saraj.


“Not sure what it’s all about, but obviously something quite serious has happened.”


Now for those that don’t know, ‘Op Minimise’ is called when there has been a serious injury or death in-theatre.


It basically results in the blackout of communications across the entire country so information about the incident does not leak out before family members are told.


Hearing the announcement is something, which the servicemen and women dread, because it ultimately means something tragic has happened.


Within minutes of arriving at the Forward Operating Base Khar Nikah, in the upper Gereshk Valley, we find out that a grenade attack on a patrol just a few kilometres from us is the reason Op Minimise has been called.


If we weren’t feeling anxious about the forthcoming ‘insurgent disruption’ operation with the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and 3 Mercian, we are now.

No sooner do we arrive we’re informed of how the next few days will unfold.


Day one of the three-day operation (Operation Tufan Alutaka) in the desert is designed to provide a ‘show of force’ and revolves around destroying a Taliban bridge near Zumbelay, which insurgents use to transport weapons to target British forces.


Day two will see the SCOTS DG (in their Warthog vehicles) provide security in the form of Vehicle Check Points in the desert to allow a shura to take place back at FOB Khar Nikah.


And day three sees us go into the “hornet's nest” as one officer puts it, targeting an area known as a Taliban hotspot which, bizarrely, is just 500 metres from the FOB.


So with three days of dangerous events in mind, sleep is impossible – even more so in fact because there is no room on camp for us so we are assigned the plywood and corrugated iron ‘Taliban detention centre’ as our bedroom.


And then we’re told the operation begins at 3am and we need to be up and at ‘em by 2.15am.
 Within what seems like minutes we are standing by for the off and awaiting instructions by the Warthogs.


Despite the fact it is the dead of night, the clear sky with bright moon and shooting stars, provides ample light as we prepare for the unknown.
 Crammed into the back of the Warthog we set off.

We soon realise we could be anywhere given that we have no window to look out of.

There is some comfort in the fact that this is a surprise offensive from the British forces and no one should be expecting our presence.


Some of the lads disembark from the Warthog and radio their positions and views in.


Reports suggest a man is preparing to lay an IED along a route.

Why else would someone be up at this hour carrying a backpack I ponder?


Despite the risk, the threat comes to nothing.


Time seems to fly by and by 4am, peering out of the slightly ajar back door, there is enough light to work out our surroundings.

By sunrise the local Afghan farmers are already harvesting the poppy in their vast fields.


Farmers at work at sunrise in their poppy fields

A field of poppies

They look at us with some confusion, but it still doesn’t deter them from their job.


Several more hours pass and the heat of the sun, even at 8am is quite remarkable.

By 8.15am the charges have been laid on the bridge and the lads are ready to detonate the 36kgs of high explosive.


If the insurgents weren’t aware of our presence they soon would be.

A recorded message in Pashtu is played out across the desert plains on a loud speaker warning of the imminent explosion, and then the detonation takes place, blasting tonnes of sand into the air.


Bridge over troubled waters

No more bridge over troubled waters

The detonation signals a successful mission and, despite concerns over an immediate response from the insurgents, nothing occurs.

We return to the FOB safe in the knowledge we are unscathed.


Later in the day, tired and weary due to the searing heat and lack of sleep, we are sitting chatting with the lads when a warning of an “imminent insurgent attack” circulates the camp.


The warning is of mortar barrels and rockets being brought up to our location to target the camp and the patrol bases around us.


We’re told it is the first ‘dress state red’ (meaning everyone dons full body armour when they are outside buildings – which are few and far between on camp) ordered in months.


Again, sleep will not be easy tonight.
We awake the next morning relieved no attack took place in the night.

The guys were fully expecting a retaliation attack after they blew up the bridge.

Day two of the operation is already well under by 7am and we are in position close to where the bridge once stretched over the Nes canal.


The Warthog Group, which we are accompanying, is carrying out a Vehicle Check Point, which is ultimately providing security for a major shura, which is taking place back at camp with ‘key’ Afghan elders.


Overwatch

A Gereshk petrol station

Keeping an eye out for trouble

The vast majority of those stopped and searched are pleasant and understand the procedure.
 Some ask why the bridge was destroyed, but on explanation, they seem to understand.


Especially as the insurgents will now reportedly have to walk 15 kilometres to gain the same access.


The soldiers greet everyone from motorcyclists, car and van drivers and farmers on tractors.


Some of the scenes make the Wacky Races cartoon seem like real life.
 One van rocks up with no less than 12 people onboard – both inside and on the roof.


Afghan public transport

However atmospherics at the VCP quickly change when one of the interpreters informs the soldiers that a motorcyclist – who was just stopped and searched – told him he had been shot at by the occupants of a white Toyota Corolla the previous day.


Everyone is fairly twitchy. But when the Afghan driver gets out of the car, full of smiles and with his hands in the air, the heightened tensions lift.


By 10.30am further reports suggest we are, in fact, being watched by insurgents who are preparing an attack.
Any relaxed mood disappears and we are shepherded into the back of the Warthog again for safety.


Soon enough though we are on our way back to base – and our detention centre – having successfully completed day two of the op.


Our Warthog vehicle

As far as we are aware day three is relatively peaceful, stable and secure compared to the previous days.
 We spend much of the day in the back of the Warthog for safety.


From the inside looking out

What we are later told is that we were in affect “kicking the hornet’s nest” by placing ourselves in the middle of a suspected Taliban area – bizarrely just 500 metres from our base.
 In retrospect I think some things are just better left unsaid.


With that – the final day – of the operation complete, we make our way back to Camp Bastion safe in the knowledge we understand more about life on the ground and indeed the risks our brave lads (and lasses) take.


I know that elements of this blog may upset and concern people (namely my mum) but I’d rather accurately record the facts so as to paint a real picture of what the guys do here.


They’re the real heroes who are out in the middle of nowhere who rarely get the headlines others get.

Twitter: @tristan_nichols

The 'jam in the sandwich'

March 24, 2011

“YOU could well be the jam in the sandwich,” quipped an officer as we prepared for our first operation in Helmand’s Nad-e-Ali district.

In theory the set up was simple: around three formations from B Coy, 2nd Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles, sweep the rural setting searching Afghan compounds for weapons, bomb-making equipment and of course insurgents, joining up eventually at a central location.

As we made our way north, the others would take different approaches towards us clearing compounds along the way.

But at the same time a separate plan was being launched in the desert by 45 Commando Royal Marines, and the Brigade Reconnaissance Force. They were attacking a known Taliban position, which could have seen them pushed back towards the populated area where we were.

Fortunately for us, we saw no enemy.

Shots were reportedly fired at one of the formations, and the insurgents quickly dispersed into the wilderness.

This was the 2RGR’s first operation (named rather weirdly 'Op Tara-Gorga-Ti 24' – meaning ‘brave badger’) since taking over the area of operations in Nad-e-Ali (south) – and they were keen to impose their presence.

A Gurkha keeps watch over the patrol

As well as the lack of insurgents, there was also a distinct lack of weapons caches, explosives, or anything else of note.

When the Gurkhas and British servicemen approached the compounds their Afghan occupants understandably looked terrified. 

A terrified Afghan family look on

This was especially understandable given the servicemen were accompanied by members of the Afghan National Army and Afghan Local Police – all carrying weapons.

While some may have seen the eight-hour operation as being a waste of time – given that nothing was found – it at least showed that the British forces are continuing their stance.

On patrol

It sought to show the enemy that they won’t rest, and that they are prepared to hunt down and find anything untoward.

Did the farmers hide the weapons or insurgents before we arrived? Had word got out that we were on our way? Were there really no weapons at all in a location which – in the not so distant past – had seen fierce fighting? Who really knows.

The experience of the operation for me though was a real eye opener.

It’s not every day you set off for a 10km jaunt into the unknown at 3.30am. Especially from a location as infamous as this patrol base - the site where a rogue Afghan police officer injured and killed a number of British servicemen last year.

With the only light being the near-full moon, the experience was as daunting as it was exhilarating.

Around whatever camp we find ourselves in from day to day there is a very present air of caution about what is happening right now. In terms of insurgent activity any serviceman or woman right now will tell you it’s “quiet”.

History dictates that the Taliban don’t like to fight in the winter, preferring instead to retreat. It’s strange but true – they don’t like the cold.

So as we bask in 42 degrees Celsius of heat, where are the bad guys? Surely after 10 years of fighting the enemy would know that the opportune moment to strike would be when a new brigade takes over the security of the region?

But yet still with that now been and gone, the dusty sleeping giant is seemingly yet to awake. One theory is that with Afghanistan’s winter being particularly harsh, it has affected the poppy harvesting.

A dried poppy

Evidence of opium being taken from the poppy

Certainly as we have patrolled around with the servicemen and women we have seen countless colourful poppy fields yet to be touched.
Many here think that this is the case, and that when the harvesting is complete in a matter of weeks, that is when the fighting will begin.

Of course the flip side is that maybe we are actually winning the war and the insurgents are facing defeat. It’s been quiet before around this time, but the feeling is that this time it’s almost too quiet.

Again, only time will tell.

Twitter: @tristan_nichols

Osama Bin Laden is dead

May 3, 2011

There are few stand out moments in your life when you can say “I was there when…”.

Where I was when I heard Princess Diana had died was definitely one of those moments, as was my whereabouts when news broke of the 9/11 attacks.

The events of Sunday night and indeed yesterday certainly fit into that mould.

I was in Afghanistan when the world’s most wanted man, Osama Bin Laden, was finally found after a 10-year cat-and-mouse chase around the Middle East.

Surreal scenes

When I walked into the office on Monday morning I, like presumably so many other people around the world, had to do a double-take of the images and words on the television screen.

It didn’t seem real. A day later and it still seems surreal.

The internet has been ablaze with speculation over his death for years now. And now the iconic figure of terror is dead?

Had he really been killed? Or was it a sneaky PR stunt by the US following the Taliban’s announcement of its spring offensive the day prior?

Some of the commandos I spoke to yesterday seemed cynical about the whole thing.

“It’s the whole Elvis thing all over again,” remarked one.

Working in a newsroom we have been bombarded with updates on our TV screens and computer screens.

But in a morbid way all we have been waiting for is an actual image of Bin Laden dead.

Earlier yesterday Pakistan TV broadcast pictures claiming to be of his mutilated face. But then within minutes of the footage being shown, eagle-eyed web users found a photo of Bin Laden and put them alongside the broadcast image.

Guess what? His teeth and beard appeared to be exactly the same – as did his profile in the photograph.

So it appeared to be a fake.

Okay so we’ve heard that the US does have pictures of the man dead, and indeed helmet camera footage of the moment he was killed.

But I think we need to see it to know for sure that it is for real.

The US has announced that dental records and face recognition (by his wife) have proved that it is him, but I think the world needs further proof.

There has also been plenty of debate over why he was ‘buried’ at sea.

Question: Would you really want to bury him on land in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan or Afghanistan thus creating a shrine?

Martyrdom is something which has got to be avoided if it can be.

Aside from that we’ve been asked a great many times in the last 24 hours whether his death means I will be coming home early from BFBS reporting duties here in Afghan?

Afraid not.

There is still as much work to be done here as there was on Saturday.

I’m told if you cut off a chicken’s head its body still runs around the place flapping.

I think it’s the same principle with regard to Bin Laden and the crazed Al Qaeda insurgents.

Bin Laden was Al Qaeda’s founder. But he wasn’t actively fighting our boys and girls on the ground. If you like he was the spiritual leader of the insurgents.

They’re still out there, and they won’t stop overnight.

Nothing has changed with regard to operational intent and purpose in Afghanistan.

If anything the widely publicized pictures of the Americans celebrating the announcement of Bin Laden’s death has only fuelled hatred towards coalition forces.

You can’t help but feel a hornet’s nest has just been kicked over and there is a swarm coming.

Twitter: @tristan_nichols