Afghanistan: Britain Never Had Enough Soldiers

By Stuart Ramsay, Chief Correspondent

It is hot. Hot as hell. Driving a Jackal long-distance reconnaissance truck and dragging another broken one behind.

My cameraman Jim Foster is at the wheel as we career across the desert on the outskirts of an Afghan village full of Taliban.

They have been firing at us for at least half an hour and we know it is going to get a lot worse. It's the summer of 2008.

"RPG! RPG! Hold tight!" Jim shouts.

To our left, in near slow-motion, I see a Talib lift his rocket-propelled grenade.

In my mind, I am screaming, but I am silent. Trying to work a camera. I am all fingers and thumbs. I know this is really, really bad. I remember thinking I hope it doesn't f****** hurt. He is so near he surely can't miss.

Video: On Patrol In Helmand

I heard the whoosh. It passes between us, just above our heads. Then explodes in the air behind us.

"Christ," I shout at Jim.

Then I see three more Jackals driven by Pathfinders from the Parachute regiment manoeuvre around us. Guns blazing towards the Taliban positions.

They are protecting us. They smash the Taliban and we surge forward over a final hillock and into the desert.

We pull over and form a circle as mortars and rounds crash into the desert a short distance behind us.

I pass Jim a bottle of water. Boiling hot from the sun, but still cooler than us.

He drinks the lot, smiles, and taps me on the leg.

"That was interesting," he says, smiling. "You did well son, very well mate."

I wanted to cry. Afghan embeds can be like this. Awful.

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Gallery: A Timeline In Pictures

October 7, 2001: US President George W Bush announces the US and Britain have started bombing Afghanistan
March 26, 2006: The first regular British troops of the Helmand Task Force unload their kit after arriving by helicopter to an American-run base in Lashkar Gah in Helmand
April 25, 2006: Defence Secretary John Reid announces Britain's GR7 Harriers would stay on in Afghanistan until at least 2007
January 2, 2008: Prince Harry sits with a group of Gurkha soldiers after firing a machine gun from the observation post on JTAC Hill, close to forward operating base Delhi, in Helmand Province
February 21, 2008: Prince Harry riding an abandoned motorcycle past his Spartan armoured vehicle, in the desert in Helmand
The Ministry of Defence announced in February 2008 that the then 23-year-old Prince, an officer in the Household Cavalry regiment, had spent the past 10 weeks secretly serving in Helmand
February 20, 2008: Prince Harry sitting below the turret of his Spartan armoured vehicle as he communicates with other units by radio
July 13, 2009: US Marine Sergeant Anthony Zabala runs to safety as an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explodes in Garmsir district of Helmand
2009 saw the most IED attacks of the war so far, with 7,228 IED attacks killing 280 coalition soldiers
November 10, 2009: Friends and family react as hearses carrying the coffins of six dead soldiers pass mourners lining the High Street in Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire
November 14, 2010: Prince William salutes the memorial to the British soldiers killed in Afghanistan, during a remembrance day ceremony at Camp Bastion
Capt Judith Gallagher with the Dragon Runner developed by Qinetiq which can remotely disarm IEDs and can be carried by a soldier in a back pack
July 20, 2010: Soldiers from Scots Guards during an operation at an Afghan National Police base on Punjab hill, Helmand
January 28, 2011: Mr Miliband arrives at Camp Bastion in Helmand for his first visit to Afghanistan
January 29, 2011: Labour leader Ed Miliband, shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy and shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander watch a landmine detection exercise at Camp Bastion
April 9, 2011: British troops, most of whom are new in theatre starting their tour, travel in a chinook helicopter to Lashkar Gah in Helmand
April 10, 2011: A Chinook makes a delivery at Patrol Base Attal in Helmand
July 20, 2011: Afghan elders wait for beginning of a handing over ceremony of control of security in the town of Lashkar Gah to the Afghan police and army
July 27, 2011: Cpl Ryan Wordsworth of X-Ray Company, 45 Commando Royal Marines, brushes his teeth at Patrol Base Kalang in Afghanistan
November 14, 2011: A soldier from the Alpha (Grenadier) company, the 3rd Battalion Royal regiment for Scotland meets a young child on a patrol in Nad e-Ali
March 22, 2012: Sergeant Jon Van Zyl of the Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment stands in front of two Mastiff vehicles and beneath Venus and Jupiter in the clear Helmand desert sky
December 18, 2012: The Princess Royal talks to Lieutenant Colonel Ben Wrench, Major Angus Watson and Sergeant Gardner in Camp Tombstone during her visit to Camp Bastion
January 21, 2013: Prince Harry does a pre-flight check of his Apache helicopter after starting his 12 hour VHR (very high ready-ness) shift
Harry scrambles to his Apache
April 2, 2013: Petty Officers inspect a Chinook airframe for small arms fire damage as part of the ongoing battlefield maintenance and repair on Camp Bastion
October 5, 2013: Soldiers approach a Chinook aircraft in the Nahr-e Saraj district, Helmand
October 11, 2013: An Afghan National Army (ANA) soldier from 3 Brigade 209 Kandak looks through his rifle scope as he is trained on marksmanship skills at ANA Camp Shorabak, Helmand
December 23, 2013: Private Zina Saunders, a dog handler, gives Hazel Christmas presents which were sent by the handler's friends and family in the UK
December 23, 2013: Soldiers based at Patrol Base Lash Durai, Afghanistan get into the festive spirit
October 3, 2014: David Cameron addresses British troops at Camp Bastion in Helmand for the final time before troops wind down their mission in Afghanistan

Every year since 2001 I have reported from Afghanistan in various capacities.

Often on embeds with the British and American forces and often as a civilian, meeting the Taliban, covering elections and reporting on this country of no real importance to the UK, apart from its place as the crucible of al Qaeda and the birthplace of terror-related stories that have dominated most of my life ever since 9/11.

The embed is a much talked about and often misrepresented phenomenon. They can be horrendously annoying, bureaucratic and plain dumb.

But in an era where war reporting, and the protagonists in the fight, be they the armies of Western governments or the forces aligned against them such as the Taliban or al Qaeda, see reporters as very much part of the battle; being embedded became a part of reality.

If we want to see what is happening at the pointy end of the conflict then embedding was the only way to achieve this.

I am told I held the record for embeds in Afghanistan. I doubt it's true but I did loads. To be honest I can't say I ever actually enjoyed them but I will forever cherish the memories and the many friends I made in the armed forces.

The soldiers, along with all the military personnel who fought in Afghanistan, risked their lives, lost their lives and limbs over all these years, did so without ever missing a single opportunity to bitch and moan.

But they served with a remarkable sense of pride and professionalism.

I never saw a man or a woman scared of the battle, never miss the opportunity to engage the enemy and never doubt that they were doing a job that deserved their full commitment.

Video: Meeting The Taliban IED Killers

Doubt and questioning was for people like me, not them.

When their comrades died they did not, as has often been reported, let their morale drop.

In my experience the death of a friend or a colleague spurred them on.

What better way to honour the fallen than to take their place over the wire, to follow their path, where every step could be your last, where every contact could take your life?

In truth, Britain never had enough soldiers on the ground.

I was deployed on a US Marine embed to cover the presidential elections in 2009.

We came across a ramshackle, half-destroyed government building that was the main base in the area. It had been set up by the British military.

In three rooms I found the British military presence. There were 22 of them, if I recall correctly, and they had held the building and 200 meters of road for four months.

Re-supplied by helicopter they were attacked by the Taliban every single day.

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Gallery: Life In Camp Bastion

Soldiers from 2nd Royal Tank Regiment relax in transit accommodation as they prepare to leave Camp Bastion in Helmand Province, Afghanistan after a gruelling six month tour
British troops cross themselves during prayer as they stand at ease on the parade square at Camp 501, Camp Bastion
The coffin containing the body of British Army soldier L/cpl Paul "Sandy" Sandford is carried by his fellow soldiers during his repatriation ceremony
Troops from various regiments including Sandford's, the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment held a repatriation ceremony for the British soldier killed in action on 6 June, 2007
British soldiers play a game of Scrabble as they watch the live broadcast of the Royal wedding
Soldiers wait to talk to then Chancellor Gordon Brown, with a cross in the foreground - part of a monument in the memory of fallen comrades
Merlin Pilot Wing Commander Nigel Colman Officer Commanding 78 Squadron sits at the back of a Merlin at Camp Bastion
Troops observe the minute's silence at Camp Bastion during a special Armistice Day Parade on the 93rd anniversary of the end of the First World War
Lieutenant Chris Millen, serving with 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, relaxes in his bedspace in transit accommodation as he prepares leave Camp Bastion
Capt Robbie Robertson (left) and Capt Olly Denning spar at Camp Bastion
Troops from 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards with a Scimitar tank
Trooper Ben Rakestrow (right), 21, from Egypt squadron, 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, sits on his rather colourful bedspread with friends in transit accommodation at Camp Bastion
Royal Military Police (RMP) as they clear their vehicle and its shelter of snow following a rare snow shower
British soldier Jamie Anderson lifts weights as he passes time at Camp Bastion
A British soldier controls the ball during a football match as comrades (background), and an Afghan National Army soldier, right, look on during a football training session at Camp Bastion

They were never given more support and they were told to carry on trying to impose security on the town and get the market working. It was hopeless, but they never gave in.

The Americans agreed with their job, they just disagreed with the way it was being done. So they took over.

Our 22 soldiers were replaced with 2,200 Marines. Security in the town improved immediately. The Taliban left. The market opened the next day. I think that says it all.

In 2010 my colleague Alex Crawford and I finally met the Taliban for a series of meetings. They explained their thinking, they showed us how they made and laid roadside bombs and they revealed to us how they were entwined with Afghan society.

We, personally, and Sky News, as an organisation, were widely condemned for our decision to talk to the "enemy".

Within months, talking to the Taliban by governments and military had become common place.

As the British combat role draws to an end gauging the success or otherwise of this campaign begins.

The coalition aim to destroy al Qaeda's ability to plan attacks across the world from the safety of Afghanistan was undoubtedly achieved.

But as attention drifted to Iraq, with its own military objectives and problems, the collective focus on Afghanistan stuttered and eventually failed.

Video: Key Moments In The Conflict

Opium production soared, funding the insurgency in the country, and a decision to try to build an Afghanistan that had never existed was almost always going to be too big a project and was probably always going to fail.

This year's presidential elections were a success and the new co-operative government is making the right noises about the future, with a heavy focus on getting rid of endemic corruption. But these are early days.

Without foreign military, the government would probably fail. It still might. For certain the Taliban have not gone away.

As with Iraq our military leave a country with many, many problems but that is not their fault.

They served with integrity and purpose and did as they were asked. They let me experience that. It is an honour to have been there.

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