Troops in training greet royal visitor

PRINCE Charles has paid troops a visit as they prepare to deploy to Afghanistan.

The Prince of Wales met members of the 1st Battalion, the Mercian Regiment (Cheshire), as they took part in exercises on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire.

The Prince visited a forward operating base (FOB), a camp set up to imitate conditions in Afghanistan, and met soldiers and officers from the Mercian Regiment, part of the 4th (Mechanised) Brigade, known as The Black Rats, yesterday.

The FOB's role is to protect and support battle groups on the ground in Afghanistan, or for evacuating casualties.

About 4,500 soldiers will be deployed from now until April when they will take over Task Force Helmand headquarters in Afghanistan.

Their rehearsal exercises are to prepare them for the deployment with small arms fire combat scenarios, attacks into compounds, routine patrols and attacks, and shuras, meetings held between tribal elders in Afghanistan, which prepares troops for Afghan culture and customs.

The regiment's "spiritual home" is in Chester, but it recruits from across Cheshire.

Major Mark Ellwood, commanding officer of A Company, 1 Mercian, said: "Morale is high and to get a visit from the Colonel-in-Chief is the icing on the cake.

"Of course we are apprehensive, but we are professional soldiers.

"The operational tempo out there is high, but this is what we do and we are looking forward to it. We have had the best part of six months' training now.

"In terms of preparation, we are good to go."

Yesterday, the Tories agreed with the Government that 2010 would be a "decisive year" for Afghanistan in the battle against the Taleban.

Reporting to MPs on the outcome of last week's London conference, Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the Afghans now had the chance to "reverse the momentum of the insurgency".

But he stressed the military and civilian effort had to be directed to a "durable political settlement" there.

Also yesterday, Afghanistan's president appealed to Taleban fighters to lay down their weapons and accept Afghan laws as the government and its international allies pushed a programme to entice militants away from the insurgency.

President Hamid Karzai spoke after he and Western backers agreed at the conference to create greater incentives to bring Taleban insurgents over to the government's side to reduce violence that has raged in recent years.

Dozens of North Staffordshire troops are also heading to Afghanistan in the spring to take on the Taleban.

The 120 soldiers are part of a 250-strong Queen's Royal Lancers battalion set to be deployed in April. The troops are likely to scout the land in Afghanistan, gather intelligence on enemy movements and protect infantry columns.