As Richard North says, it's time for a swift departure.
It does feel like our failure in Iraq all over again, complete with politicians pointlessly sacrificing young men.
Cameron stands up in the Commons and recites the names of the week's deaths, usually adding, "They will never be forgotten". The house murmurs agreement, for all the world like a Church amen.
But it's a lie. Of course they are forgotten. They are forgotten by the end of that PMQs. Who then can remember their names?
Of course if the politicians had known any history, they would not have thought we could succeed in Afghanistan.
Yes, success would have been desirable, but it didn't follow that it was possible.
But the political hypocrisy goes on. It's obvious we've lost. Every death from now will just be to save the politicians' faces.
And of course the war will continue to be a waste of money.
2 comments:
We wont lose, the government will declare victory and leave.
Actually the war has been a HUGE success. On the 12 November 2001, the Northern Alliance, following on from its victories on the ground due to US (mostly) air support, kicked the Taliban out of Kabul.
Any rational war aim was "destroy the Taliban Emirate who aided and abetted the 9/11 attacks"... and they moment the Northern Alliance took Kabul, that may not have been the end of the Taliban but it most certainly was the end of the Taliban Emirate of Afghanistan.
And that was the time for the US (quite frankly why the UK was ever there has always baffled me) to declare victory (as indeed it was), promise a constant stream of arms to anyone wiling to point them at the Taliban and then GTF out.
The problem was never going to war, that was inevitable after 9/11... it was staying there long after any additional meaningful military objectives could be secured.
Post a Comment