Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith

In an interview the commander of the 16th Air Assault Brigade has said the British public should not expect a “decisive military victory” in Afghanistan. I have news for him, the British public have never expected a 'decisive' or any other kind of victory there. We have been telling him and his political overlords that there was no requirement for 'our boys' to be getting killed there in the first place. Why are we there? To find bin Laden, to defeat the Taliban, to bring 'democracy?' What rot! We are wasting our men for American hegemony and a proposed oil pipeline. We will not find bin Laden, who has less influence than ever. There is no chance of ever defeating anyone in that land. Alexander the Great was the last man to achieve this and he did not hang about, which was just as well as those who did got bumped off. The British attempted this in the late 18th century and were roundly defeated, the Soviets foolishly thought modern weapons could defeat men on the ground. They were wrong!

Now for no good reason we are losing our men instead of rebuilding a broken land, a pipe dream if ever there was one. The 'democratic' government shows all the usual corruption, the idea that women will ever have equality there is another dream, as is the idea of negotiating with the Taliban. There can be negotiations, some progress will be made but in the end hundreds, if not thousands, of years of history show the folks there will return to fighting amongst themselves.

Instead of dropping bombs made from depleted uranium on innocent men women and children, and then calling them Taliban or terrorists, far better to pull out now and let them sort it for themselves. But of course we cannot do this. There is the proposed oil pipeline that is to run the length of Afghanistan, and this needs protection. The excuse of bin Laden, the Taliban, and even more absurdly, 'democracy,' does not hide their first importance, Bush and Cheney are oilmen and it shows! If he wanted democracy he would support Hamas in the Gaza strip, after all they were democratically elected, and in a fair election at that! He would insist on democracy in Saudia Arabia, and other 'friendly' states that have no such thing. It cannot be forgotten that a democratic election would never had allowed Bush to become president in the first place! Does he care about the Talibans interpretation of Islam? Of course not. It is strict but in accordance with the lives led by Pashtans and others in those mountainous regions. Islam follows the lifestyles of its followers rather than leads them it seems to me.

As for bin Laden, discounting the story that Britain's SAS cornered bin Laden in his hideaway, allowed the Yank forces to move in to grab him, and laughed as they lost him somewhere in the mountains, as that may just be a wonderful rumour, there is no need to get him these days. Of course those who lost friends and shared the shock of 9/11 will desperately hope to catch him and bring him to justice for that attack. I see no chance of that ever happening. He has too many friends, too much money and influence, and too clever. Only oil keeps the forces there. Only Tony Blair's absurd grovelling at the feet of George Bush has led to the death of hundreds of good British soldiers. Only political necessity has allowed them to remain, at great cost, in Helmund province. The Brigadier may well be the beginning of the spin that sees 'our boys' come home for good.

I hope it is.