Army chief tells of heartache at Afghan losses

Prince Charles will attend a service of memorial and thanksgiving for 4th Mechanised Brigade at York Minster on Monday, as well as a reception for bereaved families from the Catterick Garrison based unit who were involved in a tragic six-month tour of Afghanistan this year.

Speaking ahead of the service, Brigadier Richard Felton, commander of the 6,500 strong task force which included 3,500 members of the 4th Mechanized Brigade and suffered 63 deaths, gave an emotional interview to the Yorkshire Post.

Brig Felton, who has been in the army for 26 years and served previously in Afghanistan in 2006 as well as Northern Ireland and the Falklands, said: "The first instinct of any commander is the safety and welfare of his troops and every casualty I felt and they still sit heavily on my heart now.

"I reassure myself that everything possible was done within my power to make sure the operations we ran were thoroughly planned to minimise the risk to soldiers.

"It was a highly contested tour and a hard fight out there against a determined and agile insurgent enemy.

"We faced insurgency levels of increased activity. This is because they realise that the window of opportunity is closing. We have made massive steps forward from 2006. The main threat to us was Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and direct fire but we have made significant gains in the counter IED battle and have reduced the number by 31 per cent in central Helmand.

"But we haven't won the IED fight, we have made progress but the IEDs will still cause casualties to soldiers and indiscriminate deaths among Afghan civilians.

"The memorial service is very important to us and especially for the families of the bereaved who my heart goes out to totally."

Among the task force which was in Helmand from April until October were the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Provost Company, the Royal Military Police, the Royal Dragoon Guards, the Queen's Royal Lancers, 4th Regiment Royal Artillery, 4th Mechanised Brigade Signals Support Squadron and 1st Battalion Scots Guards – all based at Catterick. There were also six Danish soldiers and one Estonian who served with the task force and also lost their lives.

Prince Charles will attend the memorial ceremony at York Minster and then visit Imphal Barracks in York.

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama told US troops during a surprise visit yesterday that they were making important progress in the war, and he pledged Afghanistan would never again be a "safe haven for terrorists" who want to attack the United States.

"You will succeed in your mission," Mr Obama told more than 3,500 cheering troops in a huge hangar at Bagram Airfield. "We said we were going to break the Taliban's momentum. That's what you're doing. You're going on the offence, tired of playing defence."

Mr Obama had flown to Afghanistan to thank the troops and to deal with frayed relations with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

But plans for a face-to-face meeting were abruptly scrapped. The White House and Afghan officials blamed the last-minute cancellation on rough weather.

Instead, the two leaders spoke by phone, Mr Obama at the air base and Mr Karzai in Kabul.