Afghanistan: missing soldier could hand Taliban a 'propaganda victory'

British troops will leave 'no stoned unturned' as they race to find a soldier
missing in Afghanistan, a former commander has said.

 

 

The British soldier went missing from his base in central Helmand 

By Raf Sanchez

2:46PM BST 04 Jul 2011

Colonel Richard Kemp, who led the British mission in Afghanistan, said all
available NATO forces would be brought to bear to rescue the serviceman and
deny the Taliban a propaganda victory.

He said: "We don't know whether the Taliban have got hold of him but the
greatest danger is that they have.

"One of the most important parts of every mission any soldier carries out
in Afghanistan is to avoid capture because they know the extreme danger of
falling into the hands of the Taliban.

"Until NATO finds out where he is they will use every intelligence source
they can including monitoring radio communications, monitoring phones,
intercepting emails, using ground and air surveillance and drawing on
intelligence sources in places like Pakistan.

"They will leave no stone unturned."