Product Description

Leading commentator, Sean Rayment, has followed the conflict in Afghanistan from the first moment and tells the story of the rise and fall of the British effort in Afghanistan. The current conflict in Afghanistan is unlike any other war in the world. Since 2006 British soldiers have been living in impossible conditions, under the searing desert sun (on occasions reaching 50°C) and facing continual fire from elusive Taliban forces. With access to many members of the Parachute Regiment, the Royal Marines, and The Royal Anglian Regiment as well as the undercover operations of special forces, Sean Rayment recounts the lives and battles of the British forces at the centre of the most difficult conflict of our times. Included here is the dramatic two-week siege of Sangin in August 2006, in which 120 members of the Parachute regiment stood against an unseen desert force: in the turmoil, under heavy fire, Corporal Bryan Budd of the Paras headed off a Taliban assault and was killed; he won a posthumous VC. During the most dangerous periods solders were forced to sleep standing at their battle positions. Sean Rayment’s dispatches from the campaign, also cover the battles of Musa Quala and Nawzad and form a compelling and gruelling account of what’s really been happening in a war that is often conducted beyond the lenses of the media. He reveals a riveting portrait of courage and endurance amongst the ordinary men and women of the modern British Army.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #257869 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-11
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

About the Author
Sean Rayment served in the Parachute regiment for five years. As a journalist he has worked on many newspapers and is currently the defence and security correspondent of the Sunday Telegraph. He has covered conflicts in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, the Gulf and Afghanistan.

Customer Reviews

Into the Killing Zone
This is a gripping book chronicling the raw courage of British soldiers and Royal Marines in a war that is being fought out of sight, out of mind for many Britons.

Rayment, a former Parachute Regiment officer who has been to the front-line in Afghanistan many times, details the heroism of men like Corporal Mark Wright. He won a posthumous George Cross for his bravery when trapped with his men in a minefield, cracking jokes to keep their spirits up even while mortally wounded.

Into the Killing Zone gives the lie to those who claim that the current younger generation would never rise to the challenge of a war. Rayment tells how young soldiers, many still in their teens, are fighting and dying in the unforgiving war zone of Helmand province.

The book should also be uncomfortable reading for our politicians as it details the kit shortages the men and women are having to put up with in the front-line.

It is well worth a read for anyone who wants a more detailed account of life for our soldiers in Afghanistan than brief news reports can possibly, provide. Rayment lets you taste the dust, the tension and the fear - and lets the facts speak for themselves.

Lucid and hard hitting account of conflict in Afghanistan
There has been a flurry of books covering the recent intense combat in Afghanistan which began for the British in 2006. The majority have been Ministry of Defence sponsored accounts. This is one of the few unofficial narratives.
Rayment's prose is crisp, punchy and leaves the reader in little doubt of the gargantuan task that British troops face in Helmand.
While most books have simply concentrated on the heroism of your average 'Tom', 'Into The Killing Zone' includes many gripping tales of combat but still asks some serious questions over NATO's strategy in Afghanistan and how our government's spin doctors have successfully managed to obscure some dubious decisions.
We learn for the first time that Brigadier Ed Butler, in charge of the first troops in Helmand, was effectively bullied by the Afghan government into deploying our tiny force of soldiers into fixed positions throughout the province.
The result was that each group simply became besieged by the Taliban who mounted ferocious and often deadly attacks against their positions. The British lost the initiative and the campaign stalled in those vital first months.
Where, we ask ourselves, was Tony Blair when this decision was taken? Why did he not intervene with President Hamid Karzai on Ed Butler's behalf or bring US pressure to bare? How many British and Afghan civilian lives were lost as a result?
This highly readable book does not provide the answers to these questions but at least Rayment has had the courage to ask them.

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