Former SAS commander, Major Sebastian Morley, said recently that the UK's effort in Afghanistan is "worthless". He also said that the situation in Afghanistan is similar to the start of the Vietnam war.
Morley had a sobering assessment of the situation on the ground:
This is the equivalent to the start of the Vietnam conflict, there is much more to come.
We hold tiny areas of ground in Helmand and we are kidding ourselves if we think our influence goes beyond 500 metres of our security bases.
We go out on operations, have a punch-up with the Taleban and then go back to camp for tea. We are not holding the ground.
Major Morley resigned after Cpl Sarah Bryant and three colleagues were killed when their Snatch Land Rover hit an anti-tank mine in Helmand province in June 2008.
The SAS commander says he was compelled to stand down after Quentin Davis, British minister for Defence Equipment and Support told an "unacceptable lie". At the time Davis stated that commanders had a choice of vehicles.
Major Morley said "There was no other vehicle to use. The simple truth is that the protection on these vehicles (Snatch Land Rover) is inadequate and this led to the unnecessary deaths."
Morley's assessment is brutally honest and speaks to a hard truth about the operation in Afghanistan.
He isn't the first British military commander to speak out. In October 2008, Brigadier Mark Carlton-Smith said the British public should not expect a "decisive military victory". He spoke these words shortly after a leaked memo from a French diplomat claimed that the British ambassador in Kabul, Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, told him the western strategy was "doomed to fail".
Obama should think long and hard before getting in deeper. Despite increasing the US troop presence he has said he will seek talks with the Taleban. When asked if the US was winning the war in Afghanistan, he replied "No".
The challenges facing Afghanistan will not be solved by military intervention by western powers. More-of-the-same, along with the fantasy of an Afghanistan 'on track' in accordance with the prescription being offered by the west won't succeed.
A determination to get in deeper will result in hundreds, perhaps thousands of more young lives needlessly lost. Families in Afghanistan and the western nations involved will be faced with burying their loved ones for some time to come.
The Soviets retreated from Afghanistan in bitter defeat. Recently Lt General Ruslan Aushev who was part of that operation expressed a skepticism based on hard experience:
Full BBC story here.
The SAS commander says he was compelled to stand down after Quentin Davis, British minister for Defence Equipment and Support told an "unacceptable lie". At the time Davis stated that commanders had a choice of vehicles.
Major Morley said "There was no other vehicle to use. The simple truth is that the protection on these vehicles (Snatch Land Rover) is inadequate and this led to the unnecessary deaths."
Morley's assessment is brutally honest and speaks to a hard truth about the operation in Afghanistan.
He isn't the first British military commander to speak out. In October 2008, Brigadier Mark Carlton-Smith said the British public should not expect a "decisive military victory". He spoke these words shortly after a leaked memo from a French diplomat claimed that the British ambassador in Kabul, Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, told him the western strategy was "doomed to fail".
Obama should think long and hard before getting in deeper. Despite increasing the US troop presence he has said he will seek talks with the Taleban. When asked if the US was winning the war in Afghanistan, he replied "No".
The challenges facing Afghanistan will not be solved by military intervention by western powers. More-of-the-same, along with the fantasy of an Afghanistan 'on track' in accordance with the prescription being offered by the west won't succeed.
A determination to get in deeper will result in hundreds, perhaps thousands of more young lives needlessly lost. Families in Afghanistan and the western nations involved will be faced with burying their loved ones for some time to come.
The Soviets retreated from Afghanistan in bitter defeat. Recently Lt General Ruslan Aushev who was part of that operation expressed a skepticism based on hard experience:
We were there for 10 years and we lost more than 14,000 soldiers, but what was the result? Nothing,
Full BBC story here.
