GURKHAS IN HELMAND
The War in Afghanistan was one of the most testing deployments for the British Army in recent years. First sent as part of a NATO-led coalition in 2001 to find the leaders of al-Qaeda after 9/11, the British were part of an intervention that toppled the ruling Taliban regime. Afghanistan next required redevelopment, with security being provided by the British in the southern province of Helmand from 2006. Helmand eventually became a byword for the British struggle against the resurgent Taliban. In a mission that turned increasingly violent, a total of 454 British personnel were killed in Afghanistan during 2001-14.
Among the British troops fighting in Helmand were among the most professional soldiers in the world: the Gurkhas. Nepal’s fearsome warriors have fought for Britain for over 200 years and have a reputation for extreme courage. Now formed into the Brigade of Gurkhas in the British Army, these famously fierce soldiers served with distinction in Afghanistan. Among them was a young NCO in the Royal Gurkha Rifles: Kailash Limbu.
Originally from a remote Nepalese village, Limbu undertook five tours of active service in Afghanistan. The majority of these were in Helmand, where he survived many dangerous missions against the Taliban. Still a serving soldier in the British Army, Limbu describes resupplying a besieged garrison under fire, surviving an ambush, assaulting a hillside position and the exceptional comradeship of the Gurkhas.
“Life was difficult”
Limbu was born in the village of Khebang, Nepal, in 1981. He grew up in the foothills of the Himalayas in the northeast of the country, less than 50km away from the third-highest mountain in the world: Kangchenjunga. His upbringing was rural and remote. “My life was completely different compared to what my kids have experienced in Britain,” he says. “I would do some housework every morning, such as bringing grass to feed cattle and chickens. I’d finish that at 8.30am and had to do it before I went to
