AFGHANISTAN:Tension between British and American commanders in southern Afghanistan erupted into the open yesterday as a senior UK military officer said he had asked the US to withdraw its special forces from a volatile area that was crucial in the battle against the Taliban.
British and Nato defence officials have consistently expressed concern about US tactics, notably air strikes, which kill civilians, sabotaging the battle for "hearts and minds" and infuriating Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president.
Des Browne, the UK defence secretary, recently raised the issue with Robert Gates, his US counterpart, and Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Nato's secretary general, admitted last month that an increasing number of civilian casualties was undermining support for alliance troops. He said Nato commanders had changed the rules of engagement, ordering their troops to hold their fire in situations where civilians appeared to be at risk.
Yesterday, a senior British commander was quoted in the New York Times as saying that in Sangin, in the north of Helmand province, which had been calm for a month, there was no longer a need for special forces. "There aren't large bodies of Taliban to fight any more," he said. "We are dealing with small groups and we are trying to kick-start reconstruction and development." Twelve-man teams of US special forces had been criticised for relying on air strikes for cover.
Unnamed British officers were quoted yesterday as saying the US had caused the lion's share of casualties in their area and that after 18 months of heavy fighting since British forces arrived in Helmand they were finally making headway in securing key areas, but were now trying to win back support from people whose lives had been devastated by bombing.
Nato officers admit they are troubled by the high toll. One medic said that during a 14-day period last month, British soldiers rescued 30 Afghan civilians wounded in bombings or firefights - half of whom were children.
The US and Nato yesterday denied the British commander had asked US special forces to leave his area of operations. However, Mr Browne, visiting British and Nato troops in Afghanistan, said the commander was expressing a personal view.
"It is the reporting of an observation of a British officer on a particular part of the American military," he told reporters in Kabul.
"That may be his view, but it is not the view of the Helmand taskforce commander, it is not the view of our government, it is not the view of the Americans, it is not the view of the alliance. These things can be said in the heat of battle. These are very difficult circumstances."
After a meeting with Mr Karzai, Mr Browne said the British-led Helmand force has made "enormous progress in driving back the Taliban in the north of the province".
British officers say US special forces are cavalier in their approach to the civilian population. Most British soldiers work well with regular American troops and some speak admiringly of them.
But US special forces units are a different matter. They operate under a different chain of command, with their own rules on everything, from dress code to the use of weapons.
Whereas the British troops operate under Nato command, the American special forces are commanded from the US-led coalition in Bagram airbase outside Kabul. That means the Americans can call on a wider range of airstrikes, and British officers have little control over which munitions are dropped in populated areas.
The British military spokesman in Helmand, Lt Col Charlie Mayo, said the special forces had supported seven British-led operations in Helmand since last April. He said that relations between the two sides were "excellent".