Ex-Army chief calls for fresh Afghan strategy

A soldier, from the 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment, died while on foot patrol in the Nad-e Ali area, in Helmand Province, on Sunday afternoon.

Spokesman for Task Force Helmand, Lieutenant Colonel David Wakefield, said: "His dauntless courage and his sacrifice will not be forgotten."

His death takes the number of British service personnel who have died since the start of operations in Afghanistan in 2001 to 246.

Major-General Andrew Mackay, who led the successful British recapture of Musa Qala from the Taliban, said the MoD was "institutionally incapable" of adapting to the rapid changes required to fight modern wars such as that in Afghanistan.

He also said the military "consistently failed" to understand the motivations of local Afghans and criticised the axing of academic research and courses for non-commissioned officers.

Maj-Gen Mackay's criticisms come in a report co-authored with Royal Navy Commander Steve Tatham and published by the MoD's Defence Academy at Shrivenham, Oxfordshire.

His report comes just four months after he resigned from the Army citing personal reasons, although it was widely reported he was unhappy with the treatment of British soldiers by the MoD.

He had commanded the 7,750-strong 52 Infantry Brigade in Helmand in 2007/08 and achieved much lower casualty rates in the operation to take Musa Qala than comparable operations by other British brigades, which he attributed to the adoption of different tactics.

Maj-Gen Mackay's paper claims that if the military was to be successful in battle, it had to put more focus on understanding the culture, economy and psychology of the Taliban.