Tributes to soldier killed in Afghanistan as British military chiefs say Operation Moshtarak has 'gone to plan'

The first stage of the biggest offensive against the Taliban since hostilities began has 'gone to plan', the Ministry of Defence said today.


More than 1,000 British troops took part in Operation Moshtarak in Afghanistan alongside Afghan forces.


Major General Gordon Messenger told a press briefing in central London that commanders on the ground were not complacent but were 'very much of the view this has gone according to plan.'

He spoke shortly before the British soldier killed in a patrol ahead of yesterday's push was named as Lance Sergeant Dave Greenhalgh, 25, from Ilkeston, Derbyshire.

The 'utterly dedicated' soldier, from 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, was killed 'protecting his men'.

He died instantly when his vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device in Helmand, according to the Ministry of Defence.

Maj Gen Messenger said some British troops had come under small arms fire, but added: 'Nothing has stopped the mission from progressing.'


He said no artillery had been fired and no bombs dropped in the area where British efforts were focused but an Apache helicopter fired a Hellfire missile at insurgents after members of a Household Cavalry patrol were attacked from distance.


Soldiers from the Royal Welsh Regiment, working with Afghan forces, have uncovered 13 IEDs. Tunnels apparently used by insurgents were also uncovered.


Work had begun building bridges over canals and building up temporary bases in the area.

Troops have also provided security allowing hundreds of elders to attend two Shuras - tribal gatherings - in a town which was the local seat of Taliban government.

Maj Gen Messenger said: 'The Taliban flag has been taken down and replaced with the Afghan flag.'


Cash for work programmes allowing local people to start building up the infrastructure could begin tomorrow.


'What has happened over the last 24/48 hours is the easy bit,' Maj Gen Messenger said.

'The challenge is to provide security that allows the Afghans to provide for their people. The success of this operation will be judged on that, not the last 24 hours.'

He said the Taliban were 'divided and fractured' but remained an 'adaptable foe'. 'There is no complacency. It is not unusual for the Taliban to melt away to watch what's happening with a view to coming back at us once they catch their breath.'

Two allied soldiers, including L Cpl Greenhalgh, died in the first day's fighting.


The British soldier was on patrol in a Jackal armoured patrol vehicle in the Taliban stronghold of Nad-e-Ali, Helmand province, hours after the operation began under cover of darkness.

He was the 258th British soldier to die since hostilities began in 2001. His next of kin have been informed and he is likely to be named later today.

Tributes were today paid to L Cpl Greenhalgh, who was known for his distinctive moustache.

The Grenadier Guards battle group commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Roly Walker, said: 'He was killed protecting his men as they cleared a high threat area, where his task was to secure safe passage for others to then pass through to continue on their way.


'He was watching over others so they could move safe from harm, a noble purpose for which he paid the ultimate sacrifice.

'He was a tough soldier and a natural commander, a decent and honest man, and a friend to those he knew.'

An American soldier was killed by small arms fire as he took part in the air and ground assault, designed to clear the insurgents from their heartland.

Nato said a further three US soldiers were killed in bombings elsewhere in Afghanistan.

Earlier today, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth confirmed the offensive had so far been a 'success' but said troops must now 'hold the ground.'


Mr Ainsworth told BBC News: 'The operation is going well. The big test is whether or not we can hold the ground and provide security for the people who live there.'

He admitted some Afghans would 'hedge their bets' until they were sure the Taliban had lost control.

He said: 'Over the coming months can we show them we intend to stay, that the Afghan government intends to stay.'

Britain has committed 4,000 troops to Operation Moshtarak – ‘togetherness’ in the local Dari language – which is seen as the acid test of Barack Obama’s strategy to remove the Taliban from its remaining strongholds and hand over control to the Afghan people.

At least 20 Taliban died during the operation in firefights with Nato troops and another 11 were captured along with Kalashnikov rifles, heavy machine guns and grenades.

Mr Ainsworth and UK military commanders had warned before the operation that they expected casualties as they entered Taliban strongholds.

Lieutenant-Colonel Matt Bazeley, who is in Afghanistan commanding 28 Engineer Regiment, described the area as ‘the heart of darkness’.

The dead British soldier was among 15,000 US, UK, Danish, Estonian and Afghan troops who swept in a pincer movement on the Helmand province areas of Marjah and Nad-e-Ali in a dawn raid aimed at clearing the Taliban from their remaining positions.

The assault started at 2am yesterday, with US and British helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft attacking known Taliban positions. US Apache helicopters fired Hellfire missiles at targets, but the British forces are thought not to have bombed the enemy in order to avoid civilian casualties.

By 2.30am, the air strikes were complete and were followed by troops – including British soldiers from the Grenadier and Coldstream Guards and the Royal Welsh Regiment – being flown in to mount a ground assault.

Around 1,200 British troops took control of an area of compounds and fields surrounded by canals and muddy tracks with little resistance from the Taliban. A further 2,800 UK soldiers were on standby to move in if required.

Most of the insurgents, who numbered up to 1,000 a week ago, had fled the area after Nato warned they were to mount a major offensive, leaving only a hard core of diehards to fight against the heavily-armed allied soldiers. The majority of locals had also fled, mainly to nearby Lashkar Gah.

As the attack got underway, sources on the ground described hearing a series of control-led explosions as advance troops picked their way through minefields and booby-trapped routes on the way to the Helmand town of Marjah.


U.S. Cobra helicopters and Harrier jets fired missiles at bunkers and tunnels before exchanging fire with Taliban fighters.

Progress was careful due to booby-traps and minefields. Marines had to build substitute bridges over a canal leading into the town as the main bridge was so heavily trapped with mines.

'I did get an adrenaline rush, and that bridge is wobbly,' Lance Corporal Ivan Meza, 19, said after he was one of the first to cross a substitute bridge.

Locals reported seeing Taliban fighters abandon the route as the Marines approached.

'They left with their motorcycles and their guns. They went deeper into town,' a shopkeeper was reported as saying as Marines searched a poppy field next to his house for mines.


British troops were told not to follow obvious tracks as they made their way into town to reduce the risk of improvised explosive devices.

British forces are set to start a 'consolidation phase' today in an area north of Marjah.

Last night, British Forces Afghanistan spokesman Major General Gordon Messenger said the first stage of the operation had gone ‘as well as it could have done’.

But he warned Nato military chiefs were under no illusion that the Taliban might return in a matter of days. Gen Messenger added that ‘low numbers’ of insurgents were killed during the attacks, but that efforts by British troops in an area known as the Chah-e-Anjir Triangle had been successful.

He said: ‘There’s no complacency. Everyone understands this is the easy bit. The hard bit is what comes next in reassuring the local community. This is all about winning the allegiance of the population. That allegiance is not won in a day. It must be won over time.’

Gen Messenger said the Marjah region was pivotal, and unless coalition forces could demonstrate such volatile districts then troops would be unable to move to the next level of the campaign.

As the operation continued Foreign Secretary David Miliband said it was 'premature' to discuss when British troops could withdraw from Afghanistan.

Asked if the progress of the training of the Afghan National Army and the operation's initial success could mean soldiers may be able to return home as early as next year, he told Sky News Sunday Live: 'I think that two days into this operation it's premature to start talking in that terms.


'The allegiance of the local population is won over months and not over days but what has clearly happened is we are in a decisive year in the Afghan campaign and Helmand province is a decisive province and this part of Helmand province is a decisive centre.


'It is, if you like, the nerve centre of the insurgency and of the narcotics industry. That's what explains the very high degree of planning that has gone into this operation.


'I think that as regards British troops it would be quite wrong to come on this programme and make glib promises.


'What we always say is that British troops are making a huge difference on the ground.


'We mourn the loss of another soldier yesterday and we grieve with his family and with his friends.


'Equally, we say, we want to get troops home as soon as it's safe for them to do so. That is why we point out that the training up of the ANA is so significant, why the creation of a political process in which the Afghans believe is so significant and why we also say that keeping out Al Qaida is in all of our interests.'


Last night, Prime Minister Gordon Brown paid tribute to the lost soldier who he said had ‘made the ultimate sacrifice’ and hailed the troops’ success.

He said: ‘I’m very proud of the exceptional role that British forces have played and the amazing bravery that has been shown, the night assault that had to take place, the huge effort that is now being made to hold the land.


‘It is sad that we have lost one of our most courageous soldiers in this effort. I want to pass on my condolences to his family and friends. He was very brave and very courageous and made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.’
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