Afghanistan: UK support for US policies risks failure
Belfast Telegraph
The UK mission in Afghanistan is in danger of failing because of "misguided" support for American military and drug-eradication policies, an international think-tank has claimed.
Instead of taking part in the reconstruction of the country shattered by decades of war, British forces find themselves "at war" with a resurgent Tal-iban and alienated from an increasingly hostile population.
The report came as Tony Blair led tributes in the Commons to the two special forces soldiers killed in Helmand on Tuesday. He said: "They were fighting the Taliban. They were brave and committed soldiers. This country can be very proud of the work they were doing."
The study by the Senlis Council, a drug policy think-tank, predicts that the violence in the south will escalate. The Taliban and their allies have been exploiting the anger felt by farmers at the destruction of opium crops and by civilians who have suffered in US-led operations.
Lt-Gen David Richards, the British officer who is due to take over all Nato operations in Afghanistan with US troops under his command, warned the crop eradication programme was driving farmers into the hands of the Taliban and the Western forces are creating new enemies. Last week Hamid Karzai, the President, levelled unprecedented criticism at the US-led coalition's tactics, deploringthe deaths of hundreds of his countrymen and women while the Taliban grows in strength. About 600 people have been killed this year. UK and other Nato forces in Afghanistan are supposedly on a different mission from the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom, which is engaging in war-fighting operations against Tal-iban and al-Qa'ida fighters. The Senlis Council says villagers cannot differentiate between foreign troops. One researcher said that when she tried to explain the difference at a village shura (council) in Helmand, one elder said: "You cannot tell the difference between our tribes, so how can you expect us to tell the difference between yours. As far as we are concerned, they are all foreign soldiers who are Christians and they are in our country." Read more
The UK mission in Afghanistan is in danger of failing because of "misguided" support for American military and drug-eradication policies, an international think-tank has claimed.
Instead of taking part in the reconstruction of the country shattered by decades of war, British forces find themselves "at war" with a resurgent Tal-iban and alienated from an increasingly hostile population.
The report came as Tony Blair led tributes in the Commons to the two special forces soldiers killed in Helmand on Tuesday. He said: "They were fighting the Taliban. They were brave and committed soldiers. This country can be very proud of the work they were doing."
The study by the Senlis Council, a drug policy think-tank, predicts that the violence in the south will escalate. The Taliban and their allies have been exploiting the anger felt by farmers at the destruction of opium crops and by civilians who have suffered in US-led operations.
Lt-Gen David Richards, the British officer who is due to take over all Nato operations in Afghanistan with US troops under his command, warned the crop eradication programme was driving farmers into the hands of the Taliban and the Western forces are creating new enemies. Last week Hamid Karzai, the President, levelled unprecedented criticism at the US-led coalition's tactics, deploringthe deaths of hundreds of his countrymen and women while the Taliban grows in strength. About 600 people have been killed this year. UK and other Nato forces in Afghanistan are supposedly on a different mission from the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom, which is engaging in war-fighting operations against Tal-iban and al-Qa'ida fighters. The Senlis Council says villagers cannot differentiate between foreign troops. One researcher said that when she tried to explain the difference at a village shura (council) in Helmand, one elder said: "You cannot tell the difference between our tribes, so how can you expect us to tell the difference between yours. As far as we are concerned, they are all foreign soldiers who are Christians and they are in our country." Read more
posted by exoplanet at 2:10 PM
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