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A detailed new account of the British military campaign in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014 , based on the experiences of those who served. Following the 9/11 attacks, the British Government supported the initial US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, and also committed troops to Kabul from 2002 onwards. However, following the expansion of ISAF southwards, Britain was drawn into a lengthy military campaign against a fierce insurgency. The British commitment to what became known as Operation Herrick saw a battlegroup from the Parachute Regiment deploy to Helmand Province in January 2006 with the hope they could "leave in three years and without firing one shot". The reality was very different. From 2006 through to 2014, a succession of British brigade-sized task forces rotated through Helmand on six-month tours. When they finally withdrew in 2014, British forces had lost 456 killed and over 2,000 wounded, and the Taliban were resurgent. Sergio Miller served throughout the campaign in Defence Intelligence in Whitehall, and this book is his attempt to answer the many questions surrounding the conflict. Based on the abundant open-source material generated by the war, it is not an analysis of counter-insurgency theories or geopolitical rumination, but the story of the men and women who served.>
List of contents
Chapter 1 - The Planes Operation
Chapter 2 - International Rescue
Chapter 3 - A Particularly Difficult Operation
Chapter 4 - Unfix the Force
Chapter 5 - Take the Fight to the Enemy
Chapter 6 - The Prize is the Population
Chapter 7 - Fixed Again
Chapter 8 - Serving in Hell-Land
Chapter 9 - The Commandos Return
Chapter 10 - Crisis Year
Chapter 11 - All Change
Chapter 12 - Doing the Hard Yards (Successfully)
Chapter 13 - The Rush for the Exit Door
About the author
Sergio Miller is a former British Army Intelligence Corps officer who served in Special Forces. He was deployed to Northern Ireland and undertook assignments in South America and East Asia. In the First Gulf War he served as an intelligence briefer to the UK Joint Commander. Since leaving the regular armed forces he has worked in the defence industry. Sergio continues to support the Reserves and is also the author of the two-part history of the Vietnam War,
In Good Faith and
No Wider War, published by Osprey, as well as a regular contributor the British Army's house journal
British Army Review, and writes regularly for British military blogging site
The Wavell Room.
