Afghanistan: The mess that Harry left behind

The favourable media coverage of Prince Harry's time in Afghanistan was a stunning public relations success for defence chiefs, but it merely papers over the problems facing the troops he left behind.

The extent of those difficulties - and the Labour government's role in making them worse - was exposed last month in a board of inquiry report into the death of the first British soldier to die in action in Helmand. Due to its timing, however, it has received little attention.

The board's report was released on the same day the coroner at the Oxfordshire inquest into the death of 29-year-old Capt Jim Philippson (right) in June 2006 accused the government of a "breach of trust" for failing to provide troops with vital equipment.

The coroner's focus on the lack of equipment diverted attention from the full extent of the government's "breach of trust" as

revealed in the damning board of inquiry report.

Ministers insisted during the spring and summer of 2006 - amid widespread reports that commanders in Helmand had insufficient troops - that they had all the men they wanted. But the board's report shows this to be a lie and reveals that John Reid, the then Defence Secretary, imposed a 3,150 'manning cap' on UK troop levels.

Reid's "political machinations" - in part with Nato and in part with the Treasury - led to a two-month delay in an announcement of the deployment, the board said.

"Critically the Secretary of State [Reid] delayed announcing the Helmand deployment because he wanted to ensure the campaign could be won, that the 3,150 manning cap was not exceeded, and that Britain's Nato allies were also contributing," it said. Preparations for the deployment were "inhibited by the lack of early formal political direction and [the] strictly enforced manning cap".

Commanders were scathing about the 3,150 figure, which was "established upon apparently best case rather than