WikiLeaks cables: Our troops 'do an excellent job' in Sangin, insists MoD

MoD defends Helmand operations after revelations that Karzai and US commander of Nato troops had criticised British efforts

The Ministry of Defence defended the conduct of operations in Helmand yesterday after revelations that the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, and the US commander of Nato troops had accused British troops of failing.

The criticism centred on a failure of the British military to impose security and to connect with Afghan civilians during a four-year stewardship of Helmand, Afghanistan's largest and most troubled provice. They came to light in a series of secret dispatches from the leaked US diplomatic cables. The town of Sangin has claimed more British lives than any other in Afghanistan. But US general Dan McNeill, who led Nato forces in Afganistan in 2007-2008, is recorded as "particularly dismayed" by the British effort which had "made a mess of things" in the province.

An MoD spokesman said: "UK forces did an excellent job in Sangin, an area which has always been and continues to be uniquely challenging, delivering progress by increasing security and taking the fight to the insurgency. That work is now being continued by the US marines as part of a hugely increased Isaf [the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force] presence across the whole of Helmand province."

"Both Afghan leaders (including the governor of Sangin) and the US marines have publicly recognised and paid tribute to the sacrifice and achievements of the UK forces in that area."

Publically, the US has hailed British operations. During the transfer of Helmand to US command earlier this year, Major General Richard Mills called the performance of British troops in the province as "nothing short of magnificent".

But the cables also show negative comments were made by the governor, Gulab Mangal,who told a US team led by vice-president Joe Biden in January 2009 that "I do not have anything against them [the British] but they must leave their bases and engage with the people."

Former defence secretary Geoff Hoon responded yesterday that he had raised concerns about the level of manpower needed for deployment in Helmand. "[I] basically said that we could do this, but only once we had drawn down significant numbers in Iraq," he told the Times. Hoon, who left the MoD in 2005, added: "I was more concerned not about the ability of the men on the ground to do the job; I had no doubt they could do the job.

"My concern was whether we had enough resources overall to both do the job in Iraq, the existing job in Afghanistan (because we were already fairly heavily deployed there) as well as a new one. That was the bit I was bothered about."

The efforts made by British troops were also strongly defended by Anthony Philipson, whose son James was one of the first soldiers to die in Helmand. "We have done the best we could with some of the finest infantry in the world; we have taken terrible casualties. Yes, the place is still a hotbed of violence, but I think it always will be."