A SENIOR officer said Dorset troops in Afghanistan are seeing “positive signs for the future”.

Major Jonny Kitson is the second in command of 1 Rifles, the battalion formed the Devon and Dorsets in 2007, which is halfway through a six month deployment in Nahr-e Saraj in Helmand.

The regiment recruits from several counties including Dorset and has about 20-40 county men in each battalion.

The men deployed include Lance Corporal Aaron Bastick, 26, from Dorchester, Corporal John Jowett from Portland, and Lance Corporal Ross Eglon, from Bovington.

“The Battlegroup has got to grips with the terrain, the heat, and the people of this area better,” Major Kitson told the Echo during a visit to Afghanistan.

“Our Riflemen have become sensitised to the needs of the local population, who show a willingness for peace, and who respect the considered approach of our men in an often highly dangerous set of circumstances.”

1 Rifles is headquartered at Patrol Base 2 which it shares it with a company of Afghan soldiers and about 30 Afghan police.

British and American combat troops are due to withdraw by 2015 and the responsibility for security is gradually being placed in the hands of the Afghan security forces.

Both the Afghan police and the army have come in for criticism and I heard a couple of soldiers express concerns.

One soldier said they lacked a sense of urgency about their training, and another said, half seriously, half jokingly, that he worked with ‘one good Afghan commander and nine rubbish ones’.

The British Army’s spokesmen say the focus should be on the ‘rapid increase in size and capability’ made over the past three years and the Afghan’s skills in relationship building with the local population.

Major Kitson said: “The Afghan National Army remain capable and committed to their professional task, within their own resource challenges. “They are learning to become more independent of the ISAF support that remains in place, and their leadership sees the future and is working hard towards it. “They have a more instinctive ‘feel’ for the local area, its people, and its problems, and we continue to learn from their experience.

“They are very good in the field although there is still some work to do on their logistic support.

“Police development is still taking time, particularly due to the low literacy rates, but their commitment is becoming more assured.”

The area 1 Rifles occupies was a “terrorist haven”, according to one of the intelligence officers, until the British began to move into the area with Operation Panthers Claw in 2009.

The officer said the area was largely deserted because locals were driven away by the Taliban's profuse laying of IEDs, but the population and commercial traders are now returning.

The battalion is split into several sectors, each home to one company headquartered in a patrol base, with outlying checkpoints that might only home a dozen British soldiers.

Major Kitson said: “The overall situation shows many more positive signs for the future, with local government officials more engaged, and the people more connected to building peaceful and thriving communities.

“For example, we now have a representative from Lashkar Gar Interim Municipal Council attending the local community shuras to take the local populations problems and issues back to the provincial capital.”

Other Rifles battalions were previously deployed to the notorious town of Sangin, an area that accounted for half of British casualties during 2009.

Dorset men killed there included Bournemouth’s Captain Mark Hale and Rifleman Jonny Allott, and Verwood’s Rifleman Phil Allen, who was educated at Penwithen School in Dorchester. Sangin, like most of Helmand, is now the responsibility of American Marines. Is it a relief not to be there?

Major Kitson said: “Each area has its particular challenges, whether they are security, governance or development.

“Some have bigger challenges in one or other of these areas. Whichever area it is, we want to see progress across the board, and Sangin is a key part of that.”

This deployment has so far seen less casualties than some previous Rifles tours, with three deaths, but the risks are still grave. The girlfriend of one soldier from 1 Rifles told the Echo her boyfriend had been through two IED strikes in 12 days.

Exactly the same dangers are shared by 6 Rifles TA recruits from the Dorchester detachment, who work among their regular counterparts – they include Rifleman Benjamin Fagan from Portland, Rifleman Connor Minshall from Weymouth and Rifleman Jonathan Spriggs from Dorchester.

I went on patrol with C-Com-pany and remember the black humour beforehand (‘If everyone dies, Lucky is in charge’), the warnings and raised rifles to the Afghans speeding around on motorbikes, the stares from the locals, and the slow walk in two lines behind brave men with metal detectors.

This is the battalion’s second tour and Major Kitson said that experience has served them well, combined with “excellent” training that began last year.

The reduced casualties and the successes in building up Afghan civic society have partly been put down to a greater concentration of servicemen.

There are now 10,000 British troops and marines in an area the size of Kent, whereas in 2006 there were 3,200 in an area half the size of England.

How does Major Kitson think the recent withdrawal announcements will effect his successors in the same area?

“Difficult to speculate on that,” he said.“Security has improved noticeably this year and it is because of this that the troop reductions will be able to take place. “The reductions for UK forces have been announced take the numbers down to 9,000 by the end of next year, so I would not anticipate a significant change in the numbers actually deployed on the ground.”