The litany of deaths, abuses, displacements and the failure to deal with burgeoning corruption all paint a depressing picture of the war in Afghanistan and will have no doubt contributed to the results of this poll.
However, there is a wider point about the ability of this Government to properly articulate WHY Britain is involved in this war, WHAT our aims and objectives are and WHEN victory will be likely to be achieved or even what such victory would look like.
I have also made a short speech in the presence of the Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff, Lt General Simon Mayall, on the importance of the Military Covenant to the operations of the armed forces. There is now a huge and dangerous risk that the current Government have effectively broken this Covenant by allowing such a gulf of understanding and mutual support to develop between the public and our armed services.
I am worried that the commitment we have shown thus far to the Government of Karzai is fast becoming untenable, given the questions of democratic legitimacy and unchecked corruption. I do not, however, believe that any settlement can be arrived at with the Taliban and have said so before. This leaves us with a huge challenge - how to continue a war, to fight against evil, whilst losing support at home and being let down by the foreign government we are trying to support.
There is now a huge challenge on the political establishment in responding to the collapse in public support for the war.
I have made these points and speculated about what the political establishment (regardless of party affiliations) could do to help rectify the current situation. I understand that my call for a cross-party War Cabinet is NOT the current the Conservative Party line.
However, in my previous posting on this matter, I also made it clear that support 100% Cameron's commitment to setting up a National Security Council/War Cabinet to oversee Britain's efforts in Afghanistan. Only David Cameron as Prime Minister will have the authority and credibility to set this War Cabinet up, sadly this current Government has lost the ability to continue this war to victory or even an honourable withdrawal.
.jpg)
Posts
Great Post - you have clearly identified the problems facing the British involvement in Afghanistan and shown how this will only get harder as support at home collapses.
ReplyDeleteI dont agree on two things though:
1) Talking and allowing democratic process helped in the resolution of Northern Ireland. Why would the moderate elements in the Taliban be so different to the IRA?
2) Your post suggests that our position is becoming totally impossible to continue with. I disagree with that. We can continue for some time under present conditions, as the levels of support flattens again as we catch up with the new tactis of the Taliban.
This is not a fight we can lose. We have to leave Afghanistan when, and only when, the Taliban have become more moderate, less successful and less powerful in the region. Anything other than that could lead to almost total collapse throughout the entire region.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/oct/02/cameron-afghanistan-war-cabinet
ReplyDeleteDave has of course pledged a War cabinet from day 1.
Britain is in this war because of Al Queda and the Taliban, fighting terrorism to prevent attacks such as 7/7. However, whether it's preventing attacks or provoking more is not clear, with opinion probably tending towards the latter I'd guess. Add that our troops are not as well equipped as they should be due to a peacetime defence budget amongst other things, the lack of obvious progress...
We want to leave Afghanistan as a stable state, but whether that is possible is debatable. I expect we will leave it in a state of civil war, having failed to win our war there as the Soviets did in the 80's, and as our empire did before them. Britain is not diplomatically well placed to deal with Middle East matters given our history in the region, with Isreal and Iraq as former colonies amongst others, and with a history alongside Russia and the USA in meddling with internal affairs of both Iraq and Iran, which is a major regional power.
If it i made clear what a victory in Afghanistan would look like, and when to expect it, it will help public opinion, but as things stand, we seem to be gaining little ground as our soldiers keep falling. Are they dying pointlessly? Can we realistically expect a victory?