Just what kind of an alliance is this???

We'll only prevail in Afghanistan when everybody starts to pitch in...

The daily Mlada fronta Dnes wrote that members of the Czech Republic's elite Special Operation Group lost the trust of British forces after withdrawing from several operations because of the heavy fighting involved, and on another occasion refused to take part, saying that too many of them were on leave.

After their experience with the Czechs, British commanders preferred to co-operate with a Danish contingent, the paper claimed.

Prague's defence minister, Vlasta Parkanova, has launched an investigation into the unit's behaviour, saying that some of its personnel could be dismissed. But its commanding officer, Petr Krcmar, has claimed that the accusations are nothing more than an excuse to dissolve the group, which operated under British command during a tour of Afghanistan that ended last year.

The scandal, which has damaged the reputation of the Czech armed forces, apparently reflects deep-seated problems within the Special Operations Group and its relationship with the defence ministry. Some of its members have complained that they lacked clear rules for their Afghan deployment, and others have threatened to return decorations they won while serving in Afghanistan.