Pride and Fall

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.