BRITISH troops heading for Afghanistan with orders to take on the drug barons risk triggering a new confrontation there, according to MPs.

The Commons Defence Committee fears a British-led operation to combat the region’s powerful opium smugglers could lead to a deterioration in security in Helmand province, which British troops are hoping to stabilise.

The MPs want ministers and military commanders to detail the precise role the British forces will play in countering the gangs who produce 90 per cent of the world’s opium.

In a report released today, the committee says that it is also deeply concerned that the 3,300-strong taskforce lacks sufficient close air support and enough transport helicopters to carry out its role.

The RAF is due to pull its force of Harrier GR7s out of Kandahar in June, about the time the taskforce, spearheaded by 16 Air Assault Brigade, should be fully operational. The committee of MPs argues that if Britain’s Nato partners will not replace the Harriers, the RAF must stay on.

James Arbuthnot, the committee chairman, said last night: “Dealing with the drug gangs is a dangerous business, but there is no easy answer. It has to be done.”

As well as its main role of restoring stability and security to this largely lawless region, the force has been given the task of supporting Afghan forces in opposing the main opium dealers.

The report offers a stark warning: “There is real tension between the tasks of achieving security and reducing the opium trade. It is likely the more successful the deployment is at impeding the drugs trade, the more it will come under attack from those involved in it. In the short term at least, the security situation is likely to deteriorate.”

A new commando unit — the Afghan Special Narcotics Force (ASNF) — mounted the country’s biggest raid this week on a border town in the grip of the drug barons.

Brigadier Ed Butler, commander of the British force, said yesterday that it would not take on the opium farmers but deal with the middlemen and the traffickers in support of Afghan agencies. He expects the fight with the traffickers to provoke “destabilisation”, but insists his force is prepared.

The brigadier said his force was also prepared for a fight with the resurgent Taleban forces who have been intensifying their attacks on coalition troops. Taleban leaders say a new wave of suicide bombers awaits the British force.

In the latest violence yesterday, militants shot dead a local intelligence chief in southern Afghanistan and US-led troops fought a gun battle in central Uruzgan province in which one soldier was injured.

The British deployment is for three years, but Mr Arbuthnot doubts that the war with the drug barons can be won in that time.

Brigadier Butler said: “We will stay as long as is required.”

The MPs also fear that the Army’s manpower will be stretched by the mission. Defence chiefs told the committee that the deployment was “manageable” but admitted there could be shortages of medics, intelligence officers and helicopter crews.

The troops will be able to call on eight Apache helicopters for the first time, along with four Lynxes and six Chinooks, which the Tory MP doubts will be enough in a terrain where movement on the ground is difficult.

“I believe our Nato allies will have to help us out with air assets if this operation is to succeed,” Mr Arbuthnot said.

Liam Fox, the Shadow Defence Secretary, said that he was concerned that troops would be working on reconstruction and counter-narcotics operations at the same time. “The size of the force we are sending has been a concern of ours since the Government announced this deployment,” he said.

The British contingent will be operating in a province which has the highest level of opium poppy collection in Afghanistan, and where drug gangs make more than £1.5 billion a year.

So far, two British soldiers have died in Afghanistan, one in a road accident, the other in a shooting incident which did not involve hostile forces.

CASH CROP

Helmand is the main producer of the annual crop of more than 4,000 tonnes of illegal opium

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