3:15pm Monday 8th February 2010
ESSEX soldiers are set to be at the forefront of the largest offensive launched in Afghanistan.
Operation Moshtarak - which means together in Dari - will see British troops join with NATO and Afghan forces to clear Taleban insurgents from a large area of war-torn Helmand province.
Armed Forces Minister Bill Rammell said that soldiers from 1st Battalion, Royal Anglian Regiment, which recruits from the county, will be “playing their part” in the operation, which involves 15,000 soldiers.
Some 400 soldiers from the unit were sent out to Afghanistan at short notice in October to reinforce existing British forces.
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