BRITISH defence chiefs have put a battalion of paratroopers on standby to jump into Afghanistan, amid fears of heavy fighting with the Taliban this winter as the government in Kabul tries to eradicate opium poppy growing.

If the 600 troops carry out an airborne landing it will be the first time that British paratroopers have jumped into action since Suez 50 years ago.

The Airborne Task Force, a role currently filled by 2nd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, is ready to fly to Afghanistan within 12 hours and be on the ground within 24 hours, senior defence sources said.

The Taliban have a tradition of a summer battle season but Mullah Omar, their leader, has told his fighters they will intensify their attacks this winter to “surprising” levels to drive out foreign infidels. In a message to Afghans marking the Eid al-Fitr holiday which concludes Ramadan, he said: “With the grace of Allah, the fighting will be increased . . . in the next few months.”

British diplomats also warned last week that an Afghan government programme to wipe out production of opium poppies, due to take place in December and January in Helmand province where 4,200 British troops are based, was likely to trigger heavy fighting.

In anticipation of the threat British military planners have drawn up a “contingency operation” under which a parachute battalion would jump out of six C-130 Hercules aircraft over Afghanistan to reinforce the Royal Marines there. The process — strategic long-range parachute insertion — involves the aircraft being refuelled in mid-air.

Paratroopers were expecting to jump into action in Afghanistan earlier this year, the sources said. Two drops into Helmand province were planned, one into the Sangin area in May as part of the US-led Operation Mountain Thrust, and one into the Kajaki area in September.

Parachutes and the RAF dispatchers were sent to Afghanistan ahead of the jumps but there were not enough serviceable C-130s to proceed, the sources said.

Plans to dispatch paratroopers direct to Afghanistan from the UK to reinforce units already there is further evidence of lack of available ground troops.

Lieutenant-General David Richards, the Nato commander in Afghanistan, was originally promised a battalion of British paratroopers based in the country to counter any surges in fighting. But commitments in Iraq meant there were not enough spare infantry available.

Senior commanders have admitted they do not have enough troops to mount operations at current levels in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

General Sir Richard Dannatt, chief of the general staff, said last month that British troops needed to get out of Iraq “some time soon” to concentrate on Afghanistan. The National Audit Office said last week the forces were more than 5,000 men short.

The Afghan government will begin the campaign against the drug lords as early as next month, destroying poppy fields across Helmand province. Engineer Daoud, the provincial governor, is determined to carry out a programme of “targeted eradication against the big boys who are growing on government land”, according to a British diplomat.

Taliban funds come not from cultivating the poppies but from providing protection to the drug lords, he said. The Taliban will therefore attack anyone trying to eradicate the poppy crop.

“If the Afghans go after these big boys, then that would require military support,” the diplomat said. British troops would have to be brought in to “suppress any violent reaction”.

About 50% of the heroin used in Britain comes from Afghanistan and more than a fifth of it comes from Helmand province.

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