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Howells: UK must quit Afghanistan

Wednesday, 4 November 2009

A former Foreign Office minister has broken ranks and called for the phased withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan.

Kim Howells, who had ministerial responsibility for the country until last year and now heads the Commons Intelligence and Security Committee, told The Guardian: "It would be better to bring home the great majority of our fighting men and women and concentrate, instead, on using the money saved to secure our own borders."

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body count in Afghanistan
[info]lewis_northants wrote:
Wednesday, 4 November 2009 at 07:54 am (UTC)
In Afghanistan as previously in Vietnam an measure of success is the body count whether the incident is the bombing of a village or a military battle. When observers visit bombed villages, they find in the majority of cases the dead civilians outnumbered dead nsurgents. In nations such as Afghanistan where loyalty to the family takes precedence over loyalty to the national government very death whether civilian or militant acts as a recruiting tool for the insurgents. The more troops we send in, more dead Afghans, nd more recruits for the Taliban If we don't change our policies in the fighting of this war. There can be no happy ending.



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Afghanistan
[info]almostvoid wrote:
Wednesday, 4 November 2009 at 02:24 pm (UTC)
That country is a mess. I was there years ago and found that it really is NOT a country - not even a concept of one. It's an area of various and very very ancient tribes. More like what those countries around it didn't bother with partially because the locals don't want anybody there. Even building schools etc for them is resented. That's how fiercely independent they are. The Taliban are a scourge but if the Afghanis don't want them they'd shoot them. As for terrorism, well who paid for them? [rhetorical that one]
I wish our country would get out as well, but methinks it's good practice for our soldiers there. Just a conspiracy theory I've been mulling over
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Re: Afghanistan
[info]goatbucket wrote:
Thursday, 5 November 2009 at 05:18 pm (UTC)
It was one of the reasons that the deployment in Northern Ireland was tolerated for so long.
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Re: Afghanistan
[info]almostvoid wrote:
Friday, 6 November 2009 at 12:41 pm (UTC)
now that is astounding. I beleive ya. The mind boggles. who set up who one wonders.
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Out of Afghanistan
[info]mh656 wrote:
Wednesday, 4 November 2009 at 04:35 pm (UTC)
I have been thinking along the same lines as Howells for a long time. We've been messing around in the middle east, as well as other places, it seems like forever.

What part of "Lessons will be learned" don't politicians understand.

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Common sense at last?
[info]geo32 wrote:
Wednesday, 4 November 2009 at 04:36 pm (UTC)
To operate 1.000 troops in Afghanistan with all their needs costs the USA ONE BILLION DOLLARS PER YEAR-------------------------------------

Our government with all its cost cutting will no doubt be considerably less.

I think if the public were given a full breakdown of the actual costs and weigh it against the deaths and injuries to our brave warriors against what we have acheived in Afghanistan Joe public would scream blue murder

Kim Howells speaks from the full depth of his experience but the blinkered government will not listen to common sense
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Re: Common sense at last?
[info]mh656 wrote:
Wednesday, 4 November 2009 at 04:45 pm (UTC)
Forget costs, although the cost of Afghanistan wont be lost on the treasury I'm sure.

Lets bring our people home.
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Re: Common sense at last?
[info]geo32 wrote:
Wednesday, 4 November 2009 at 04:57 pm (UTC)
MH656 I agree with you wholeheartedly that our boys should be brought home asap

I was totally against the invasion of Iraq and still cannot see why we went into Afghanistan with the knowledge we have of that countrys past history

But we are the great unwashed of the UK whom politicians compleley ignore
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