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SCOTTISH soldiers are being sent back to Afghanistan – less than a year after the war was declared over, the Record can reveal.

Troops from the Royal Highland Fusiliers - 2 Scots – will deploy to Kabul in the coming weeks.

An Army source warned they could face Taliban fanatics who are desperate to capture the Afghan capital.

The source said: “In a built-up area like Kabul, you could have to deal with suicide bombers and car bombs, as well as getting sniped at.

“We haven’t seen the back of Afghanistan yet.”

The troops’ mission will be to guard the Afghan national army’s officer training academy and to teach cadets.

Senior officers expressed dismay at the deployment and raised fears the soldiers would be put into a situation “like the Alamo” – the besieged fort where Americans were overwhelmed by Mexican forces in the 19th century.

The source added: “Kabul is the jewel in the crown for the Taliban and they want to take it.

(Image: Lewis Whyld/PA Wire)

“The plans are to send a company of Mastiff armoured vehicles and troops to provide watch for the officer training school.

“It begs the question – why can’t the Afghans guard it themselves?

“The boys have been training for it in the last few months, so they will be ready.”

The deployment, which has not yet been announced in Parliament, comes just months after the formal handover of power to Afghan forces, the

withdrawal of British soldiers and the closure of bases, including Camp Bastion.

It flies in the face of David Cameron’s assurance that it was “mission accomplished” in Afghanistan.

The deployment will again strike fear into the troops’ families. Two years ago, 2 Scots lost three men in one of Afghanistan’s biggest boobytrap bomb attacks.

Politicians and armed forces groups blasted the move to send the troops back in, saying it was “short-termism” and a “chronic misjudgment”.

SNP defence spokesman Brendan O’Hara said: “This is shocking and another clear sign of a lack of honesty from the Tories when it comes to using the armed forces.

“For Scottish troops to hear they have to face going back to Afghanistan after clear commitments were made is unacceptable for personnel and their families.

“David Cameron’s cavalier comments about the mission being accomplished were wide of the mark.

“Our troops will do us proud as ever – but the Ministry of Defence need to come clean about how long they plan on being in Afghanistan.’’

An online clip shows soldiers from 2 Scots training at Lydd Ranges in Kent in preparation for their summer mission. Summer is often referred to as the “fighting season” in Afghanistan, when Taliban militants launch waves of “spectaculars” – attacks designed to cause maximum carnage and public outrage.

This year’s fighting season has already kicked off with Taliban fighters swarming over Afghan army posts in the country’s north-east, killing at least 18 soldiers. Eight of their bodies were beheaded.

Some 250 Taliban fighters overran the bases in Badakhshan in mid April. Afghan troops killed 19 Taliban fighters, eight of them foreigners, before fleeing the area.

(Image: PA)

Cameron announced in December 2013 that the mission in Afghanistan was over and that our troops were coming home.

The Prime Minister gave the assurance after visiting soldiers at Camp Bastion in Helmand province.

At the time, Cameron said: “Do they come home with mission accomplished? Yes, I think they do.

“To me, the absolute driving part of the mission is the basic level of security, so that it doesn’t become a haven for terror.

“That is the mission, that was the mission and I think we will have accomplished that mission and so our troops can be very proud of what they have done.”

Last year, British troops formally ended their combat mission and closed or handed over their last bases to Afghan soldiers.

Camp Bastion, the last UK base, was handed over to Afghan troops in October.

It brought an end to a costly 13-year campaign in which 453 troops died fighting the Taliban in Helmand.

News of the 2 Scots’ latest deployment comes as the MoD prepare for another £500million of funding cuts this year.

Andy Smith, of forces pressure group UK National Defence Association, said: “This is another example of politicians wanting Britain to be a major world player, strutting the world stage, and deploying British troops overseas at the drop of a hat, but all the while being unwilling to resource our armed forces properly.

“Now they are being sent into a war zone again without Parliament or public being consulted.

“When will the Government learn that we cannot continue to commit our soldiers to these extended overseas operations unless we reinvest in the military, call a halt to redundancies, repair the damage done by all the years of cuts and put our armed forces on a much firmer footing?”

An Army spokeswoman said: “The British Army has an enduring commitment to provide training staff and force protection to the officer training academy in Kabul.

“This was in addition to combat operations in Helmand province, which ceased last year.”

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