A growing number of wives, mothers, girlfriends and sisters have decided to speak out over the 'intolerable' pressures on loved ones amid fears that, unless more Nato countries agree to send extra troops, the situation will deteriorate further.


The women describe how soldiers they have spoken to have had one day off in eight weeks because of relentless fighting with Taliban forces and are surviving on just three hours sleep.


'They are absolutely shattered; after a 10-hour gun battle my son is so exhausted he can barely speak,' said one mother whose son has been stationed in the volatile Sangin region of Helmand for two months. Families also reveal that the supply of rations to the more remote British camps remains so erratic they are sending food parcels amid complaints troops are suffering weight loss.


One mother said fatigue was one of the most dangerous issues and that it was causing mistakes. Her 19-year-old son in the Household Cavalry Regiment had lost a close friend after an accident involving an armoured vehicle. Her son had been left stranded in Sangin after their Scimitar broke down and they could not obtain the right part. She said: 'Eventually they tried to repair the Scimitar themselves, but were absolutely exhausted. One man jacked it up on sand, went underneath the vehicle and it collapsed, crushing his head.'


The mother said her son twice rang the army's main base in southern Afghanistan - Camp Bastion - requesting help, but none was available: 'They were on their hands and knees trying to save him, but it was too late. They were absolutely traumatised.'


http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world...874341,00.html