Taliban vs British Army vs Whitehall
By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:30am GMT 14/01/2007
A lack of political direction, a shortage of soldiers and "complete disconnection" between the Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence combined to hinder progress in the war in Afghanistan, a report by military chiefs has concluded.
The document, drawn up by senior officers from 16 Air Assault Brigade, gives a withering assessment of how decisions in Whitehall prevented progress against the Taliban and, sources claim, contributed to deaths and injuries among soldiers.
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We need them: how do we pay?
By Sean Rayment, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:30am GMT 14/01/2007Page 1 of 2
The Prime Minister has surprised service chiefs by finally admitting that more will have to be spent on our Armed Forces. Military experts, though, disagree about where the money should come from.
The message to the Army recruits was blunt but clear: parachute training is cancelled. The RAF has run out of aircraft. For the troops who had joined the four-week military parachuting course at RAF Brize Norton, in Oxfordshire, just four days earlier, it was a morale-sapping blow.
Troops were informed that their parachute training was cancelled
Instead of joining their regiments as qualified parachutists ready to jump into battle, the 60 troops, 20 of whom were raw recruits, were ordered to return to their units without their coveted wings, the mark of an elite airborne soldier.
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