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UK builds mock Afghan village for army training

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, May 1, IRNA – Britain’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has built a mock Afghan village in eastern England to help prepare troops for military operations in Afghanistan, it was reported Friday.

The new £14 million training facility at Stanta in Norfolk’s Thetford Forest opens this month and consists of a rural village and urban complex, designed to replicate conditions the British army faces when deployed in the country, according to the Daily Telegraph.

The village was said to include a mosque, markets and houses arranged around a traditional court, with dusty streets strewn with motorbikes, tyres and carts.

To add to the atmosphere, calls to prayer are rung out in the 30 acre site amidst the smell of cooking and synthetic aromas, while the village is populated by volunteers dressed as insurgents in Taliban robes.

Lt Col Simon Lloyd, Commander of the Defence Training Estates for the Eastern region, believes the camp gives soldiers the best possible training.

"It will make the shock of going to war much less and prepare a soldier to the very best of their ability," Lloyd said.

"We've replicated everything but the heat as there's not much we can do about that in Norfolk.”

"The place is magnificent. I've served in the Middle East and the likeness is uncanny. We've sourced props from all over the world. Every soldier that goes on active duty in Afghanistan, and some headed for Iraq, will come through our camp,” he was quoted saying.

The area was originally used a replica Nazi village built in during World War Two in 1942 and has previously been transformed to resemble settlements in Northern Ireland and Bosnia.

The Telegraph said that the MoD employs Gurkhas who have done active service for the British and amputees from the charity Amputees for Action, to act as villagers, insurgents and injured soldiers.

Work started on the camp in December.

General Sir David Richards, Commander in Chief Land Forces, praised the camp, saying the new training facilities mean that we will be “giving our soldiers the very best chance to succeed in today's complex operations and return home safely.”

"We need to provide as realistic an environment as we can for our excellent fighting soldiers. They need to operate from the same type of place that they will use in Afghanistan and be put to the test in as realistic a manner as we can devise,” the general said.