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Doug Beattie: Attack 'won't detract' from Afghan mission

By Kris Jepson

Updated on 13 July 2010

As defence secretary Liam Fox announces NATO forces will bring an Afghan soldier to justice for killing three British soldiers from the Gurkha regiment in Helmand Province, Doug Beattie MC tells Channel 4 News the attack "will not detract" from the British mission.

British soldiers take cover 26 July 2009 (Reuters)

Doug Beattie MC fought and trained the ANA in Afghanistan in 2008, as Captain of the Royal Irish Regiment. He's the author of 'An Ordinary Soldier' and 'Task Force Helmand', which focused on two of his tours of duty in Afghanistan.

Beattie told Channel 4 News: "It is a real shock to me that this has happened. The British troops work alongside the Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers and for them it will be a real shock. This does not happen all the time. It is extremely rare. It's a completely isolated incident and this type of attack has only happened three times since 2006.
 
"You have to think, in all that time since 2006, the number of man hours where British troops worked hand-in-hand with the Afghan troops, these incidents are not common - they are isolated."
 
The mission
Asked about what affect this attack will have on the British soldiers who have to work day in, day out with the ANA troops, Beattie said: "It will have a limited affect on the British troops working out there with the Afghans. No matter when you lose a soldier, you're head does drop and it can affect morale, but it will only be short lived.

"Our soldiers know that the only way we can succeed in Afghanistan is to work with the ANA - to do that we must partner the Afghan army , every soldier knows that and they will know that this incident was caused by one soldier acting alone.
 
"The people who will be hurt the most will be the Afghan soldiers themselves. They won't know why he did it and will question that. The reasons for this guy doing what he did will be explored, but they will get on with it, together.

"I can guarantee there will be British and Afghan troops out now patrolling side-by-side. It will not deflect from the ultimate goal and both the Afghans and the British know that."

Taliban claims 
Doug Beattie MC told Channel 4 News that the insurgents will use this for political gain.

He said: "Without a shadow of a doubt I can guarantee the Taliban will say they planned this - that it was a part of their strategy to undermine the ISAF forces - but it won't be.

"It will be an individual Afghan soldier with a grievance. He may be Pashtun, he may have problems or an issue, which meant he was intent on carrying out murder and then escaping. This should not detract from the direction the Afghan and British forces are taking.
 
"I've lived with the Afghan army, I've fought with the Afghan army, I've put my life in their hands and they've put their lives in my hands. They will stick together.
 
"I want to underline that this will not be a case of infiltration. It is more about 'influence'. The British army are fighting a Pashtun insurgency, so if this Afghan soldier was a Pashtun, it may be that the insurgents were putting pressure on his family and would have influence over them.

"You have to remember for the Afghan the tribe, the village, the family is all very important. So it could be a grievance about any one of those things that has put pressure on this soldier."
 
Vetting ANA
Questioned about the vetting procedures in place when recruiting ANA soldiers, Beattie told Channel 4 News: "We do vet the Afghan army, but there's not much more you can do when its early hours of the morning and this man is intent on murder. All the British soldiers can do is have robust procedures in place, their own force procedures to deal with it, but as I say, if someone is up in the early hours of the morning and he's want to kill he will do that.
 
"The bottom line is that it's a difficult job the British troops are doing out there and I think very few people actually appreciate how difficult it is. That's why the British soldier is incredibly brave. He will be out again with the Afghan soldier and they will work together to get the ANA to the required level.
 
"It's about partnering. On any patrol we'd send out a platoon of 30 men - the Afghans will send a platoon of 30 men. We will do manoeuvres with them side-by-side, we will move forward with them side-by-side, we will interact with the villagers side-by-side, we will fight with them side-by-side.

"It's all about mirroring. The Afghan army will mirror everything the British do and the British army will mirror what the Afghans do. There is joint planning and joint patrols. the patrol will be a hand-in-hand operation and this incident won't stop it from happening.

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