Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations
Defence
Written answers and statements, 5 October 2009
Liam Fox (Shadow Secretary of State for Defence, Defence; Woodspring, Conservative)
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many contacts there were between British forces and anti-coalition militia in Afghanistan in each month since June 2006.
John Hutton (Barrow & Furness, Labour)
The Ministry of Defence is currently collating and validating the data needed to answer this question. I will write to the hon. Member when his work is complete, and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.
Substantive answer from Bob Ainsworth to Liam Fox:
I am writing to provide you with the information promised in my predecessor's holding replies to your Parliamentary Questions regarding contacts between British forces and anti-coalition militia in Afghanistan on
The Ministry of Defence has recently completed a review of the data required to answer this question, and has revised the manner in which we classify and present data to ensure consistency.
The numbers of troops in contact events (regardless of the instigator) involving the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and insurgents in Helmand province as part of Task Force Helmand for each complete month from June 2006 to February 2009 for which verified data is available are shown below.
| 2006( 1) | 2007( 1) | 2008( 1) | 2009( 1) | |
| January | — | 60 | 70 | 180 |
| February | — | 100 | 70 | 180 |
| March | — | 140 | 80 | — |
| April | — | 70 | 50 | — |
| May | — | 120 | 60 | — |
| June | 10 | 110 | 80 | — |
| July | 120 | 130 | 110 | — |
| August | 100 | 130 | 200 | — |
| September | 100 | 130 | 180 | — |
| October | 40 | 90 | 170 | — |
| November | 40 | 110 | 200 | — |
| December | 50 | 130 | 220 | — |
| (1) Rounded to the nearest 10. | ||||
ISAF forces operating in Helmand come from a number of different nations, which often operate closely alongside each other and alongside Afghan Army and Police units. Without undertaking a detailed assessment of each engagement, it is not possible precisely to define in every case whether an attack was aimed at UK forces, at our ISAF partners, or against Afghan units. Data is therefore collected on the number of incidents involving ISAF forces in Helmand without attempting to identify the nationality of the forces actually being attacked. The environment in which forces are operating makes it extremely difficult precisely to distinguish between incidents initiated by insurgent forces and those initiated by ISAF.
This data is based on information derived from a number of sources and can only be an estimate, not least because of the difficulties in ensuring a consistent interpretation of the basis for collating statistics in a complex fast-moving multinational operational environment.
I hope that the above information addresses your concerns on this matter.
I will place a copy of this letter in the Library of the House.