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Why Moshtarak might succeed where Soviet army failed  Mark Urban
| 18:24 UK time, Monday, 15 February 2010  The joint Nato-Afghan
offensive called Operation Moshtarak has pushed troops into many
areas previously under Afghan control.  The results are
encouraging - but so they should be, as Nato now has 10 times as
many troops in Helmand as the Russians did.  When the Soviet
army pulled its brigade, the 22nd Spetsnaz Brigade, out of that
province in 1988, I accompanied them as a young newspaper
reporter.  They numbered fewer than 2,500 troops.  Although a
similar number of Afghan army men remained in the province once
they had gone, it is important to note how few the Russians had
there.  The Soviet approach to Helmand revolved around a grand
deal made with the principal mujahideen commander - you leave us
alone in the main provincial centres (Lashkar Gah and Gireshk)
and we will leave you alone in more remote districts.  It was
this bargain which p