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UK Army chiefs warn: 'We're not ready for Afghanistan'
Key quote"In many ways, Afghanistan is in a worse position now, four years on from the war there, than Iraq is," - Army officer BRITAIN is set for a U-turn on its commitment to send thousands of troops to fight in Afghanistan next year, with some in the army now questioning whether the mission should be abandoned altogether. Military commanders say that lessons have not been learned from the run-up to the Iraq war and that political prevarication has left them unable to make adequate preparation for the mission, which had been expected to involve up to 5,000 troops. Instead, an additional fighting force of only about 1,000 soldiers - almost certainly paratroops - is expected to be sent to Helmand province, in the south of the country, probably backed up by Apache helicopter gunships. The government had initially been keen to make an impact in Afghanistan when the UK-led Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) takes over responsibility for peacekeeping in May. Ministers hoped British involvement could kick-start the faltering process of rebuilding the country, but their enthusiasm seems to have waned. And with winter closing in and no preparations in hand for the arrival of UK soldiers, the government has still to make a formal announcement on the deployment. It is understood orders are yet to be placed for the construction of the accommodation which will house the soldiers when they arrive. Senior officers are in despair over the chaos surrounding the mission. Opium production in Afghanistan has returned to pre-invasion levels, the police force is in disarray and there is an active and growing insurgency. It took months of wrangling to persuade other NATO members to agree to supply troops. But one senior officer described the efforts of coalition partners as "shambolic", accusing the Dutch government of demanding United States military protection for its troops before agreeing to send them. Another officer accused the Germans of a complete failure in their mission to rebuild the country's police force. He said German forces had trained little more than 200 officers in four years, and when the new police force was deployed in Kabul, they had promptly disappeared. "In many ways, Afghanistan is in a worse position now, four years on from the war there, than Iraq is," he said. "It is going to take years to resolve it and the insurgency is getting worse. It is being squeezed in some places but that simply means it moves to other areas." The Ministry of Defence has consistently refused to discuss in public the number of troops it planned to send to Afghanistan, but speculation fuelled by briefings from military sources in June suggested a force of about 5,000 was being considered. A decision was expected to have been taken and announced months ago, but discussions with coalition partners have hindered preparations and Britain's ongoing commitment in Iraq has also had to be taken into account. While General Sir Michael Jackson, the head of the army, has indicated that Britain could start withdrawing troops from Iraq next year, senior MoD sources have suggested that the Afghan deployment is not dependent on any such withdrawal. However, there is frustration in some parts of the army that no decision has been taken on the Afghan mission and one officer said that, unless a sizeable force was deployed, it was unclear what Britain hoped to achieve. "There are people asking if we should be doing it at all," he said. "A lot of money has been committed, but it will probably take a lot more. There has been discussion about a rethink, maybe not doing it at all, though that does not seem very likely." Another military source said the complex negotiations required to build a NATO coalition were hindering the deployment and threatening its chances of success. "Unless it is sorted out, they will just have to put up some spin-related successes and leave it at that," he said. "Whitehall wants to see results and they will trumpet the short-term gains but it won't help towards long-term withdrawal." Britain currently has about 900 troops in Afghanistan, mainly in Kabul and the northern provinces, where they are involved in what the MoD says are peace support operations. Under the ARRC plans for next year, Canada is expected to send 2,000 troops but Dutch ministers have postponed a decision on their deployment of 1,000 soldiers until next week, amid concerns about security in the more dangerous southern part of the country.
Pathetic. Aside from Oz, probably the UK, maybe Japan and India, we're alone. I don't think the average American has any conception of how effectively isolated we have become. Pat Buchannan could start to look prescient if the Soccer Moms ever figure this out. And the donks want to trash the PATRIOT Act. Somebody give Harry Reid a violin to fiddle. Great photo of Michael Jackson at the link. No, not that one. Posted by: Elmeash Flaiter6401 2005-12-15 |
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