Reid attempts to defend Blair's Afghan deployment

"I can tell you that stories that I have received a request for 600 additional troops from British commanders are absolutely and completely untrue and just in case there had been a request from any quarter which I had not yet received I clarified the position this morning with the commander of British forces here."

He said the role of the British forces in Helmand was fundamentally different to that of the US forces elsewhere in Afghanistan.

He said: "We are in the south to help and protect the Afghan people construct their own democracy.

"We would be perfectly happy to leave in three years and without firing one shot because our job is to protect the reconstruction."

The American mission was to "go and chase and kill the terrorists who did so much to destroy the Twin Towers in that terrible attack," he said. Read more

db: 'We will be happy if we leave in three years' [a realistic number?] 'without firing a single bullet'. When the Taliban, war lords, AQ et al. hear this news from Reid they will no doubt recognise the humanitarian nature of the British deployment and call off the suicide bombers, dig up the IED's, and invite the Brits into their homes for a cuppa tea and some nan bread.

Reid 'denied the number [of troops being sent] was not enough and said the task was to "help and protect" the Afghan people's reconstruction aim'. His logic seems to be that due to the nature of the mission - NOT chasing down the 'Twin Tower attackers' [!] - like the trigger happy yanks - but supporting the Afghan aim of reconstruction - we don't need the sort of numbers and equipment that a more aggresive type of mission would call for - as if 'the enemy' are going to be playing by the rules of cricket.

And a few words on that aim of reconstruction that the Brits are there to protect - from spiegel:

The situation in the country's south and southeast is already alarming. Despite the almost five-year-long, US-led campaign against the Taliban, the organization once again controls large portions of Pashtun provinces Nimruz, Oruzgan, Helmand, Kandahar and Paktika. There is virtually no sign of reconstruction in these areas, which still lack electricity and running water, paved roads, schools and hospitals. Aid organizations hardly ever venture into the region anymore.

"Where are the new roads, the irrigation systems and the jobs you promised us?" complains an elderly man wearing a large, white turban in a village near Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital of Helmand, a region that leads the world in opium production. He has a low opinion of Karzai and the West, and most in the village share his views. Disappointment with the status quo makes them all the more receptive to militant groups.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), $55 million have been invested in programs intended to shift farmers away from opium production in Helmand. But other than a couple projects which employ Afghans to perform manual labor in infrastructure development projects -- cleaning sewage canals for example -- the programs have been virtually ineffective. For many farmers, switching crops doesn't make financial sense. Others are forced by the Taliban to continue growing poppies.

The Taliban has forged an alliance with the drug mafia that could quickly jeopardize the West's reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan. To ensure that farmers are able to continue cultivating their poppy fields, the Taliban has hired warlords and drug dealers to serve as a sort of security service against foreign military personnel. The income generated from opium production helps the Taliban and al-Qaida pay for weapons and vehicles, and drug dollars are apparently even being used to compensate the families of suicide bombers.Read more

The UK deployment to Afghanistan - House of Commons Defence Committee Report April '06
Where's the Afghan plan?