http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...ute-to-courage-of-British-special-forces.html
General Stanley McChrystal, the American commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, has paid tribute to the extraordinary courage of British special forces.
He said the SAS and SBS were at the heart of the fight against the Taliban and carrying out surgical attacks against its leaders.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph , he said they played an "essential" role in defeating the Iraq insurgency and now "show courage every day" in Afghanistan.
Gen McChrystal, who led the highly secretive Joint Special Operations Command in Iraq, revealed he personally took part in SAS missions to kill those controlling suicide bomb networks in Iraq.
The SAS and SBS are now operating mainly in southern Afghanistan "but they are a very flexible force and have ranged pretty effectively" throughout the country.
Since June last year, Gen McChrystal has been conducting a new counter-insurgency strategy designed to designed to win over the Afghan people, improve governance and woo insurgents into the political process.
But this is coupled with a joint US Special Forces and SAS drive to kill as many senior Taliban as possible "to attrit down the leadership", he said.
This is designed to give the Taliban hierarchy the choice of cutting a deal or dying. "We're already seeing indications that there's a lot of thinking among Taliban leaders and Taliban sub-commanders and Taliban fighters, an awful lot of recalculation of the future."
The SAS is at the forefront of what Gen McChrystal described as "taking some network commanders out of the network by precision operations" as part of a planned Nato offensive to regain control of Kandahar, the spiritual home of the Taliban, this summer.
"They have built on all the things they learned about – intelligence-driven operations, very precise targeting, the ability to show a tremendous amount of energy so that you can hit the network as many times as the intelligence will support.
"Many of these are the same guys who for years here and in Iraq have been at it. And these aren't young kids. These are men with kids in high school and college, they don't think they're bullet proof any more – many of them have proven they're not. They show courage every day and that's pretty extraordinary."
The effectiveness of the SAS in Afghanistan, he said, had been honed in Iraq alongside American special forces within JSOC.
"The squadrons that were part of that [JSOC] were part of one team that was all linked together with intelligence, ISR [Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance], execution.
"But they focused more in Baghdad than anyone else and it was when the history is finally understood it was the day after day, night after night, constant focus against networks in Baghdad that were slaughtering an incredible number of Iraqis that led to success." From 2006 to 2009, SAS squadrons of about 60 men, commanded by a major, would spend six months in Baghdad as JSOC's "Task Force Black" and later "Task Force Knight".
Asked about their contribution to defeating the Sunni-led insurgency in Iraq, Gen McChrystal responded: "Essential. Could not have done it without them." He singled out the SAS's A Squadron in 2007. "I know one squadron that in a six-month rotation of 180 days I think they did 175 operations.
"That's going out every night into combat. I got to go with them several times. These were not just drive around patrols, these were combat assaults.
"Sometimes right in on the objective by air, more often land away and walk in several kilometres so that you could achieve some surprise and sometimes driving." During an operation at Salman Pak on the outskirts of Baghdad in November 2007, Sergeant John Battersby and Trooper Lee Fitzsimmons of A Squadron were killed when their Puma crashed and rolled over, trapping them underneath the fuselage.
After battling in vain to save their comrades, the survivors continued on to assault the house that was their objective.
"Unless you have been close to a situation like that it is hard to appreciate what that means," said Gen McChrystal.
"In a force like that where people spend years and years together, linkages and loyalty builds up to the point where every loss is particularly painful.
And so to watch them pick themselves up and continue on with the mission both that night and then every subsequent night is pretty humbling." In October 2009, Gen McChrystal attended a service at Hereford Cathedral to mark the end of the SAS's campaign in Iraq and spoke at a dinner in the SAS sergeants' mess afterwards.
In his Telegraph interview, Gen McChrystal also paid tribute to the contributions of the British to his new counter-insurgency strategy, which that will soon see a doubling of Americans forces to 100,000 in Afghanistan, including more than 20,000 in Helmand alongside about 10,000 British troops.
"If you sit down with British officers or British senior NCOs they understand the sweep of history. They know the history of British forces not just in Afghanistan but the history of British successful counter-insurgencies – Northern Ireland, Malaysia.
"There's a particularly strong understanding of things beyond tactics. If you talk to a British officer or NCO about the strategic objectives of the end state, you'll often get a spirited discussion that's very well informed.
"And to me that brings a maturity to the effort that's invaluable."
General Stanley McChrystal, the American commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, has paid tribute to the extraordinary courage of British special forces.
He said the SAS and SBS were at the heart of the fight against the Taliban and carrying out surgical attacks against its leaders.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph , he said they played an "essential" role in defeating the Iraq insurgency and now "show courage every day" in Afghanistan.
Gen McChrystal, who led the highly secretive Joint Special Operations Command in Iraq, revealed he personally took part in SAS missions to kill those controlling suicide bomb networks in Iraq.
The SAS and SBS are now operating mainly in southern Afghanistan "but they are a very flexible force and have ranged pretty effectively" throughout the country.
Since June last year, Gen McChrystal has been conducting a new counter-insurgency strategy designed to designed to win over the Afghan people, improve governance and woo insurgents into the political process.
But this is coupled with a joint US Special Forces and SAS drive to kill as many senior Taliban as possible "to attrit down the leadership", he said.
This is designed to give the Taliban hierarchy the choice of cutting a deal or dying. "We're already seeing indications that there's a lot of thinking among Taliban leaders and Taliban sub-commanders and Taliban fighters, an awful lot of recalculation of the future."
The SAS is at the forefront of what Gen McChrystal described as "taking some network commanders out of the network by precision operations" as part of a planned Nato offensive to regain control of Kandahar, the spiritual home of the Taliban, this summer.
"They have built on all the things they learned about – intelligence-driven operations, very precise targeting, the ability to show a tremendous amount of energy so that you can hit the network as many times as the intelligence will support.
"Many of these are the same guys who for years here and in Iraq have been at it. And these aren't young kids. These are men with kids in high school and college, they don't think they're bullet proof any more – many of them have proven they're not. They show courage every day and that's pretty extraordinary."
The effectiveness of the SAS in Afghanistan, he said, had been honed in Iraq alongside American special forces within JSOC.
"The squadrons that were part of that [JSOC] were part of one team that was all linked together with intelligence, ISR [Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance], execution.
"But they focused more in Baghdad than anyone else and it was when the history is finally understood it was the day after day, night after night, constant focus against networks in Baghdad that were slaughtering an incredible number of Iraqis that led to success." From 2006 to 2009, SAS squadrons of about 60 men, commanded by a major, would spend six months in Baghdad as JSOC's "Task Force Black" and later "Task Force Knight".
Asked about their contribution to defeating the Sunni-led insurgency in Iraq, Gen McChrystal responded: "Essential. Could not have done it without them." He singled out the SAS's A Squadron in 2007. "I know one squadron that in a six-month rotation of 180 days I think they did 175 operations.
"That's going out every night into combat. I got to go with them several times. These were not just drive around patrols, these were combat assaults.
"Sometimes right in on the objective by air, more often land away and walk in several kilometres so that you could achieve some surprise and sometimes driving." During an operation at Salman Pak on the outskirts of Baghdad in November 2007, Sergeant John Battersby and Trooper Lee Fitzsimmons of A Squadron were killed when their Puma crashed and rolled over, trapping them underneath the fuselage.
After battling in vain to save their comrades, the survivors continued on to assault the house that was their objective.
"Unless you have been close to a situation like that it is hard to appreciate what that means," said Gen McChrystal.
"In a force like that where people spend years and years together, linkages and loyalty builds up to the point where every loss is particularly painful.
And so to watch them pick themselves up and continue on with the mission both that night and then every subsequent night is pretty humbling." In October 2009, Gen McChrystal attended a service at Hereford Cathedral to mark the end of the SAS's campaign in Iraq and spoke at a dinner in the SAS sergeants' mess afterwards.
In his Telegraph interview, Gen McChrystal also paid tribute to the contributions of the British to his new counter-insurgency strategy, which that will soon see a doubling of Americans forces to 100,000 in Afghanistan, including more than 20,000 in Helmand alongside about 10,000 British troops.
"If you sit down with British officers or British senior NCOs they understand the sweep of history. They know the history of British forces not just in Afghanistan but the history of British successful counter-insurgencies – Northern Ireland, Malaysia.
"There's a particularly strong understanding of things beyond tactics. If you talk to a British officer or NCO about the strategic objectives of the end state, you'll often get a spirited discussion that's very well informed.
"And to me that brings a maturity to the effort that's invaluable."
