Afghanistan: Few MPs in House to question Des Browne

Considering that the overwhelming majority of MPs in the House of Commons of all three main parties support the presence of British troops in Afghanistan under the UN mandated ISAF mission of 'reconstruction' and the US OEF [Operation Enduring Freedom] mission of 'search and destroy' [by air if possible] all who might be Taliban, War Lords, Drug Lords, AQ, and sundry criminals [don't mention mujahideen - they have been air-brushed from the picture - Orwell like] it was interesting to note that when 'desperate' Des Browne stood up this afternoon in the House to make an announcement regarding emergency reinforcements for those at the sharp end of Blair's Afghan adventure the place was almost empty. Given that six British troops have been killed in the last few weeks, you might have hoped that half, at least, of the 646 members would have made the effort and jumped into their cars [40p per mile allowance] or onto their pushbikes [20p per mile allowance] to hear what Des had to say - and indeed to serve as our representatives in calling him to account for what has been up until now - and will most likely continue to be - a bloody disaster. Alas, our MPs were elsewhere.

From Des's desperate performance this afternoon it is increasingly clear that the UK is attempting to punch well above its weight in Afghanistan, and that the necessary forces to stand a chance of securing a 'successful' outcome for 'mission impossible' are simply not available. He acknowledged that UK forces were already operating outside 'Harmony' guidelines [the frequency, duration, scale of effort and length of time troops should be asked to serve away from home each year]. When asked if the additional troops [200 infantry in reality] will be enough Des said "that is what I am told by the military". The thing is, the military are not going to demand that which doesn't exist or is otherwise unavailable.