British commander hints at new NATO offensive in Helmand

London - NATO troops will shortly launch an offensive in southern Afghanistan to "assert the control" of the Afghan government in Taliban-controlled Helmand province, a top British commander said Monday. Major General Nick Carter, the British general in charge of forces in Helmand, said in a BBC radio interview that parts of Helmand were "simply ungoverned."

However, he praised the "greater role and responsibility" members of the Afghan security forces were taking in operations in Helmand.

"Helmand is very much a work in progress, with parts simply ungoverned. If they are governed at all, it's by parallel governments provided often by the Taliban," said Carter.

"If we are going to win the argument on behalf of the Afghan government ... then we need to assert the government's control over those areas which are at the moment ungoverned," he said.

Carter said there were signs that Afghan provincial governors, as well as the army and the police, wished to take "greater ownership" of the problems facing them.

"Afghans are standing up and being counted and that makes a big difference to what happens on the ground," the general said.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305706,british-commander-hints-at-new-nato-offensive-in-helmand.html.