1. 24 G Professional Engineering G 7 February 2007
DEFENCE
Two sides: A soldier wary of ambush
at Khandahar Gate; and local
contractors discuss a tender with
Royal Engineers (above right)
Two sides: A soldier wary of ambush
at Khandahar Gate; and local
contractors discuss a tender with
Royal Engineers (above right)

2. I
n the dead of night, coming in
to land at Khandahar airfield is
an eerie experience. As the
ageing Tristar aircraft operated
by the RAF to bring troops in and
out of theatre begins its descent, the
captain pipes up over the PA.
“Please put your helmet and body
armour on,” he says.
The soldiers on board grapple
with their unwieldy kit. All the lights
in the cabin are extinguished and
the window shutters go down: the
only illumination is a dim green
glow from the emergency strip
lighting that runs along the floor.
Conversation ceases.
A nervous flyer at the best of
times, I’m feeling somewhat tense.
The base at Khandahar is still
subject to frequent rocket and
mortar attacks by insurgents. Hence
the precautions: troops journeying
to and from the UK do so under the
cover of darkness.
Welcome to Afghanistan, six years
after the Taliban regime was
deposed by a US-led coalition, half a
decade into the “war on terror”.
Overshadowed as it is by the chaos
in Iraq, last year was nonetheless the
bloodiest yet in this front of George
Bush’s war. More than 4,000 people
were killed, including almost 170
foreign troops.
The US government is showing
signs of concern. The White House
recently announced it would apply
to Congress to pour a further $8
billion into Afghanistan for
reconstruction and development,
and extend the tours of duty of
troops to counter a new offensive by
the Taliban that is expected once
winter is over.
We journey west by Hercules
transport plane to Camp Bastion,
the largest British military base in
the country, and then on to Lashkar
Gah, the capital of Helmand
province, where the British armed
forces also have a permanent base.
We’re here to see some of the work
being carried out in the region by
the Royal Engineers.
Members of the 28 Engineer
Regiment were sent out from its
German base to Afghanistan last
August to lead reconstruction and
development efforts in Helmand.
There are military construction
specialists in the area (42 Field
Squadron), while troops at the front
line are supported by seasoned
battlefield engineers (59
Independent Commando
Squadron). Camp infrastructure is
the responsibility of 64 HQ and
Support Squadron.
Major Jeremy Holman – a
chartered mechanical engineer –
leads the reconstruction efforts at
Lashkar Gah with his team. In the
capital itself, and the surrounding
region, the engineers have been
working to make the area more
secure so that development, viewed
as essential in winning the hearts
and minds of the Afghan people, can
take place. It’s a formidable task,
particularly because many aid
agencies believe the area is still too
dangerous to operate in.
Holman says: “Last summer there
was a lot of fighting in Helmand.
There are not many charities and
aid agencies over here. It’s primarily
because the security situation is
perceived to be not as good as it
could be.”
In close co-operation with Afghan
police, contractors and local
government, Holman has been
working hard to change that.
Security is top priority and from that
stems efforts at improving
conditions for local people.
Holman’s team has overseen the
building of 12 new police stations at
Lashkar Gah and the upgrading of
existing police outposts and
permanent vehicle checkpoints.
The Department for International
Development, Foreign and
Commonwealth Office and Ministry
of Defence have set aside $12
million for what are known as
“quick impact projects” – grassroots
funding for basic development
efforts. It doesn’t sound like a lot,
but a police station can be built for
just $25,000, and more funding will
be allocated at the end of March.
The aim in Lashkar Gah, and
elsewhere in the province, is to pump
as much of this money as possible
into the local economy. Holman’s
team has a list of local contractors
and puts out tenders for any
construction jobs to Afghan firms.
The bidding process is accelerated to
a greater degree than it is in the West,
with less red tape, but maintaining a
reasonable degree of transparency.
“We’re not being fleeced,” says
Holman. A local engineer has proved
to be instrumental in the design of
some of the projects, which are then
built by Afghan companies and
workers in the area.
It’s a distinctly British, holistic
approach to development, according
to Holman, that is intended to
involve all parts of the community.
Providing employment for local
people makes them less likely to
succumb to the overtures and threats
of the Taliban, thereby making the
area safer. Many so-called “second
tier” Taliban are effectively
mercenaries, or “$10 Taliban”, as one
British marine puts it.
Security and development go
hand in hand. A town such as
Lashkar Gah is first secured,
allowing development to take place,
7 February 2007 G Professional Engineering G 25
DEFENCE
JACKS OF ALL TRADES
The work of the Royal Engineers allows
the army to live, fight and move. They
are involved in construction works, such
as roads and bridges, and in clearing
minefields. Some soldiers are experts in
bomb disposal and clearing ordnance.
The engineers also build the army
camps, providing water and power
supplies.
All Royal Engineers have three roles:
soldier, tradesperson and combat
engineer. Some are plumbers,
carpenters and bricklayers, with skills
equating to City & Guilds or NVQ level,
and complete a two-year HND while in
the army. Officers can go on to gain
chartered status, boosting their skills
through masters degrees in
engineering.
The Royal Engineers are bolstered by
the presence of members of the
Territorial Army, many of whom have
civilian engineering roles and bring
their industrial experience to bear.
The work of the Royal Engineers makes it possible
for combat soldiers to do their job — and plays a
crucial part in the reconstruction efforts that follow.
Ben Hargreaves visits the troops in Afghanistan
Working under fire

4. which in turn enhances the sense of
security, allowing more development
to occur, and so on. The effect is
meant to be gradually felt further
and further afield. Holman says: “It’s
like an inkblot spreading out.”
Lashkar Gah is now “relatively
benign”, he adds. The main security
threats are suicide bombers and
what the army calls “improvised
explosive devices” – booby traps. We
go out on patrol to see some of the
projects that the Royal Engineers
have helped to commission in the
town and on its outskirts.
The first is a new police outpost
known as the Khandahar Gate,
which guards the highway east of
the city – one of the few decent
roads in the country. Constructed in
six weeks by an Afghan workforce at
a cost of $35,000, the reinforced
concrete two-storey building has
interview rooms, toilets, a water
pump and well. It’s finished in pink
– at the request of the governor of
Helmand, who wanted the building
to make a statement.
Compared with the original
checkpoint, still standing a few
yards down the road, it’s a palace.
Such buildings are not being thrown
up willy-nilly. There is a shortage of
trained police to occupy them. The
Royal Engineers have scaled down
the ambitious plans of local officials
at the town of Gereshk, also in
Helmand, who wanted 32 new
police checkpoints to be built.
The improved police stations give
officers a much greater level of
protection. Formerly, says one
soldier, they would tend to flee if
attacked by the Taliban – so
fortifying their stations at least
increases the likelihood that they
will defend their positions.
We drive back into town, to
Lashkar Gah’s hospital. The Royal
Engineers have been busy here too,
installing a makeshift refrigerated
mortuary and a generator to provide
back-up power. Plans are afoot to
pave the dirt track by the hospital’s
entrance to improve hygiene. New
emergency facilities are being built
and efforts are also being made to
develop the hospital’s sanitation,
with the introduction of septic tanks.
In the grounds of the hospital,
meanwhile, Afghan workers are
making progress as they build a two-
storey training college for midwives,
designed by local engineer Sayed
Akbar, who is also charged with
overseeing the construction work.
The $210,000 cost comes out of the
quick impact projects fund. It comes
as the Afghan government moves to
reduce mortality rates during
childbirth, which are exceptionally
high.
No one denies there is a long way
to go, in Helmand province and
across Afghanistan. “We are in the
process of turning a medieval
country into a Third World country,”
says Colonel Phil Sherwood, who
commands 28 Regiment. No one
knows how long the military will
need to be there, but it will be a
matter of years. The Taliban may not
be running the country any more,
but no one knows how long it will
take to defeat them fully. Some
experienced soldiers compare the
security situation to that in Northern
Ireland during the Troubles.
“Perhaps the question really is:
have we got the patience?” says
Captain Louise Elliott of 42 Field
Squadron, the Royal Engineers’
military construction unit that has
been instrumental in setting up and
improving security installations all
over Helmand, often digging and
building fortifications while under
fire. “But it’s important to emphasise
that it’s not just firefights and people
dying: we’re starting to see a bit
more interest in some of the other
things happening here.”
Will the British government show
patience with Afghanistan that does
justice to the commitment shown
and sacrifices made by the armed
forces? Or will it discover, much as
the Russians did during the 1980s,
that changing the country is beyond
even the scope of superpowers – and
their satellites?
But now that we are in the
country, whatever the rights and
wrongs of our arrival, shouldn’t any
programme that improves the
fortunes of the people – such as the
reconstruction work being carried
out by a willing and able Afghan
workforce with help from the West –
enjoy sustained support?
We can only hope. Regime change
of a less bloody kind than the
incursion that deposed the Taliban
is imminent both in the UK and in
the land of enduring freedom. It
would be a tragedy if Afghanistan
were forgotten as the political
landscape shifts and threats to our
own way of life are deemed to have
been overcome.
7 February 2007 G Professional Engineering G 27
DEFENCE
DESERT SHIELD
The constellations above Camp Bastion,
the largest British military base in
Afghanistan, are remarkably bright in the
night sky. Lights are dim in the camp,
which houses 2,700 soldiers, to prevent
rocket attacks. Surrounded by desert on
every side, Bastion is the only British
base not to have been attacked by the
Taliban.
“It’s open desert for miles,” says Staff
Sergeant Lee Beaumont, of UK 63 Works
Group. “Anything that comes to attack
this camp will be seen.”
Bastion – a kind of staging post for
British operations in Helmand – has an
airstrip for the army’s Chinook, Apache
and Hercules aircraft. The runway
requires frequent overnight maintenance
— it was designed to last only six months,
but has been operating for more than a
year.
The camp, not including the airstrip,
measures 1km from north to south and
1.5km from east to west. Fortifications
are strong, with ubiquitous Hesco
bastions — sacks filled with compressed
sand, dirt and stones — forming defensive
shields.
Water comes from two 150m-deep
boreholes, and passes through an ultra-
violet steriliser and chlorinator. Sewage
is treated and pumped outside the camp
as grey water. Accommodation is being
upgraded to solid concrete structures
rather than tents, initially to house 1,000
troops. The camp facilities are managed
by US firm KBR, while construction work
is carried out by the Central Asia
Development Group.
Enhancements are under way at the
camp’s hospital, which will gain two
wards, one operating theatre and a room
housing a body scanner. This work is
expected to be completed in May.
Meanwhile, plans are afoot to expand
Bastion so that it can house a further
3,000 troops. The camp is expected to
have a lifetime of 15 years.Home comfort: Camp Bastion is the base for 2,700 British soldiers
Pump it up: An engineer checks the new facilities at Khandahar Gate
We are in the process of turning a medieval
country into a Third World country