Coalition Troops Brave Minefields and Taliban Attack to Bring Electricity to 1.8m Afghans

Two thousand British troops yesterday completed one of the most ambitious projects undertaken by foreign forces in Afghanistan, leading a 100-vehicle convoy to deliver an electricity turbine that could help to transform the lives of those they have been struggling for years to win over.

In what British military officials described as their biggest mine clearance operation since the second world war, they helped move the large turbine to a hydroelectric dam on the Kajaki reservoir, north of Helmand province.

Soldiers taking part in the operation said they were frequently attacked during the journey and an estimated 250 Taliban fighters were killed. The foreign forces suffered a single casualty - the pelvis of a British soldier was crushed when a trailer collapsed on top of him.

The Chinese turbine, funded by the US, was flown on Russian aircraft into Kandahar, 100 miles away. From there the 200-tonne machine was transported in seven sections on a journey which took five days. The convoy was protected by more than 4,000 British, US, Canadian, Australian, and Afghan troops and special forces, accompanied by helicopters, jets and heavy armor.

Lt Col Dave Wilson, commanding officer of the 23rd Engineer Regiment, called it a "huge achievement". He added: "It was carried out through some of the most heavily mined areas of Afghanistan."

With special forces deployed ahead to search for insurgents along the River Helmand valley, military engineers and a British Pathfinder reconnaissance team prepared a route, codenamed Harriet, through dry rivers and mountain passes, defence officials said.

They had asked journalists not to report the long-planned mission until it was over. The turbine parts were hidden under metal sheeting which were covered in posters with verses from the Koran.

The plan now is for Chinese engineers to install the turbine at the Kajaki dam, which would triple the output of the plant to 53 megawatts, British defence officials said. Protecting the plant has been a dangerous task for British and US troops as Taliban commanders have targeted it over recent years.

"This is a significant military operation which demonstrates that our strategy of delivering civil effect is making progress in southern Afghanistan," said Lt Col David Reynolds, spokesman for British forces in Helmand. "Ultimately success in Afghanistan is about more than defeating the Taliban or the absence of fighting. It's also about creating jobs, security and economic development."

British officials said they hoped around 1.8 million Afghans would benefit from the project. However, this could take some years while electricity transmission lines are laid.

The Taliban has controlled and imposed taxes on areas where there are existing power lines, and British commanders have expressed concern that there will not be enough British or other Nato troops to prevent the Taliban from re-establishing control of the road to Kajaki.

News of the operation to deliver the turbine came as David Cameron, the Conservative leader, who was on a visit to Helmand province yesterday, said British troops were getting a raw deal over their leave. He said the period of leave should start when personnel arrived home, rather than when they departed from operations. Flights back from Afghanistan can be delayed for days before reaching the UK, partly because of mechanical problems with the RAF's aging transport aircraft.

Cameron said: "[Troops] should be able to predict how long their leave is going to be rather than having to spend it on an aeroplane and on air bases a long way from home."

Lt Col Joe O'Sullivan, commanding officer of the 2nd battalion The Parachute Regiment, which has suffered a number casualties, including deaths, in southern Afghanistan recently, said that when leave started was an issue.

"Some of the soldiers have ended up going home via Iraq, which was quite ironic for them," he said.

He also referred to the cases of two soldiers from his regiment who had been let down by their "administrative care" at Birmingham Selly Oak hospital, where they were recovering from injuries. The family of one of them who came to visit from Canada was turned away because it was outside visiting hours. When the other was discharged, he was made to walk two miles to the nearest cash point to get money for a taxi home.

Cameron said there had been progress in Afghanistan, but there were still concerns such as a shortage of helicopters and the unwillingness of some Nato countries to play their full part in operations.

Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith, the commander of British forces in Afghanistan, described the delivery of the turbine as the "end of the beginning" of the campaign against the Taliban. "We understand the problems here much more clearly," he said. "We have a strategy that looks as though it may work."

But he said Britain should expect to have a military presence in Afghanistan for "another three to five years".