MP highlights recent poor news flow
On the day four further soldiers have been killed because of a road accident, John Baron MP requested a Ministerial Statement on the latest developments in Afghanistan during Business Questions today in the House of Commons. John opposed our initial deployment to Afghanistan and has since questioned both the lack of resources and lack of clarity regarding objectives.
John said:
“Given the further tragic loss of life, the news regarding General McCrystal, the sacking of two key Ministers within President Karzai’s Government and the early retirement of the UK’s Special Representative to Afghanistan, will the Leader of the House use his influence to obtain a Ministerial Statement, particularly as recent talk within ISAF compares Afghanistan to Vietnam.”
The Leader of the House referred to the Prime Minister’s Statement last week [at which John raised a question], and recent debates in the House of Commons, but recognised the level of concern about recent developments.
John said afterwards:
“Recent developments suggest discord within the British and American camps, and within President Karzai’s Government. Meanwhile, we continue to take casualties. We now need to check all the key players sign up to the same clear goals otherwise this will continue to be a fool’s errand. Without clear goals we will not know when to bring our troops home.”
Ends
Word Count: 230
Date: 24th June 2010
Notes to Editors
ISAF is the International Security Assistance Force [http://www.isaf.nato.int/]
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