Parliament votes for the first time on Afghanistan
Today there was historic debate and vote in the House of Commons as to whether Britain should withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. In his speech, John Baron MP highlighted past errors, over optimistic assessments, an unsuccessful counter insurgency-campaign, a poor economy and corrupt Government, and high civilian casualties as to reasons why the West was not succeeding. John also highlighted the lack of clarity as to strategy, most recently illustrated by the 2015 deadline.
John cautioned against our initial deployment into Afghanistan and has been critical of the UK’s strategy ever since. He is an ex soldier.
John said:
“Our involvement in Afghanistan defied all the lessons of history. We fundamentally under-estimated the task in hand and it has been under-resourced ever since. Our mission has been plagued by a lack of equipment, poor troop density levels, and over optimistic assessments.”
“The reality on the ground is very different. We are not beating the Taliban. The pre-conditions for a successful counter-insurgency campaign as happened in Malaya –such as secure borders, a large number of troops relative to the population, a credible government and support of most of the population – are simply not in place.”
“A poor economy and corrupt government play into the hands of the Taliban. Kabul is depicted as a puppet government and the West as an occupying force.”
“In addition, high civilian casualties exponentially increase hostility against the occupying force. It is interesting to note that communism has survived the longest in those countries which had engaged militarily with the West – Vietnam, North Korea, Cuba and China. We are not winning the hearts and minds of local people because we cannot.”
“Perhaps the most worrying aspect is the lack of clarity as to strategy. This was illustrated last year by the then Prime Minister. It has also been illustrated recently by the 2015 deadline. If the mission really is to protect our streets from terrorism then it is inconsistent to have an arbitrary timetable.”
“As an ex-soldier, I do not buy the line that by withdrawing we somehow let down our troops. We can all be proud of our troops. However, they are a stoic bunch who believe it is incumbent on leadership to realistically assess the situation. By doing so we stand a better chance reducing casualties over the longer time.”
Ends
Word Count: 428
Date: 09 September 2010
Notes to Editors
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