Thank you for your concern for British Servicemen and women serving on current operations abroad. This web site aims to give you some insight so that you can pray effectively.

All information given here is in the public domain and available to the media from official sources.

It will be periodically updated to reflect changes in operational conditions.

According to the available published official figures (1st December 2009) from the Defence Analytical Services Agency (DASA), the UK has a total of 176,000 regular trained and serving personnel in the Armed Forces. The total number of deployed UK servicemen and women is more difficult to calculate and official figures are not available as the number is fluctuating all the time. But in a House Of Commons written reply on 21st April 2008, Des Browne, the then Defence Secretary, reported the there were a total of 14,810 UK servicemen and women serving on operational deployments overseas. By the end of 2008, there were some 12,400 UK personnel serving in Iraq and Afghanistan but many of these are not counted in the 'serving overseas' figure because they are regarded as being temporarily deployed from the UK.

All UK equipment and troops have now withdrawn completely from Iraq and focus has now shifted to ongoing operations in Afghanistan. A major offensive operation against the Taliban took place ahead of the contraversial national elections in August 2009, in which President Hamid Karzai was returned to power after his challenger Abdullah Abdullah withdrew from the anticipated run-off. News reports at the time from the region of operations were sadly headlined by the increasing number of British casualties and the number of those killed rose above 200. Announcements followed of an increase in troop levels was conditional on several factors. With this increase, British troop numbers in Afghanistan now stand at about 9500. Four thousand British troops are now preparing to take part in the largest military offensive against the Taliban since the Afghanistan invasion in 2001. See the Prayer Alert Page for information on what to pray for at this difficult time.

Many now question British involvement, although the government remains committed to the region and the deployment of British servicemen and women into Afghanistan will be with us for some time to come. If asked, our Forces personnel will tell you that 'we are just doing our job' and approach their deployment in a professional and committed way. Although it was hoped that the total numbers of troops in operational theatres could be reduced, the truth is that more personnel are needed to train and equip local forces, provide security and aid reconstruction work and therefore troops numbers will remain significant. The BBC have this useful information on their web site.

Many serving Christians are among those deployed, and are involved across the whole spectrum of operations, from field medical services to ships' operations rooms. This includes chaplains who carry out an important role in providing spiritual and moral support to the troops. We would like you to join us in praying for our deployed servicemen and women who are doing their job in difficult political and diplomatic and increasingly hostile circumstances.

From the BBC Web Site:
Where are British troops and why? The UK's armed forces are deployed across the world in a range of roles.

If you would like further information, or feel your church would benefit from a visit by someone with first hand knowledge and experience, please contact us via the Armed Forces Christian Union website, www.afcu.org.uk/contact.htm.

© AFCU. Material on this page is subject to copyright restrictions - see our copyright statement. Information on this web page relating to military operations has been derived from unclassified public sources. The content of this web site does not necessarily reflect the views of the Ministry of Defence or the British Government.