Larger Afghan force helps leave Taliban fractured and demoralised 13.04.11
7The Commander of 16 Air Assault Brigade says he believes the momentum of the insurgency in Afghanistan has shifted during Operation Herrick 13 and that it's increasingly fractured and demoralised. Herrick 13 was the third time 16 Air Assault brigade have been to Helmand. This time they had thousands more troops concentrated in a much smaller area of the province. Three key districts of Nad Ali, Nahr-e Saraj, and Lashkar Gah. That combined with bigger Afghan National forces means there has been change for the better in the last six months, according to the man who has just home from commanding task force Helmand, Brigadier James Chiswell has warned it could take as much as a year to see if that change is temporary or long lasting. The Brigadier says key to building that local confidence is development projects like the opening of route trident, allowing freer travel through central Helmand, with new markets opening up alongside.