War in Afghanistan ... why?

With a sharp increase in the number of British troops losing their lives in Afghanistan, the reasons for the British military presence there is coming under increasing public scrutiny.

There has never been a better time to unite (anti-war campaigners and forces' families) in our criticism of this unwinnable war.

Those in the Political elite that continue to argue for the war, are not the ones dying in that land of poverty and hardship.

The father of a recently killed soldier said, "I don't want to think he wasted his life for nothing",('My son died for worthy campaign', BBC news site 10/07/09).

But so long as this poorly resourced and ill-conceived war continues, more soldiers will die in vain. Wars never solved anything, it is time the art of diplomacy was given a try.

Why are we at war? To catch Osama Bin Laden? To eliminate the Taliban? (and do we know who the Taliban really are in 2009?) To impose democracy (note the irony!)? To stop the supply of heroin to the UK? ... well not much progress then ...

... but no, this is why we are there (apparently) ...


"The case for our continued involvement ... is to prevent terrorist attacks here and across the world" (Gordon Brown, No. 10 press release, 13/07/09). This is "our patriotic duty" (Gordon Brown, quoted on itv.com 12/07/09).

"The UK, alongside 40 other nations, are in Afghanistan at the invitation of the democratically elected Afghan government to help rebuild and develop a country emerging from a quarter century of conflict." (UK Foreign and Commonwealth office website, accessed 19/07/09).

Recently I met a British national who had worked in Afghanistan (claiming the Afghans want 'us' there, well sorry I am sceptical), who was 'surprised' at the unpopularity of the British there! I don't know, we destroy their infrastructure, kill countless thousands of their people, create anarchy then support a government accused of corruption, and create such fear and violence that displaces over two million people as refugees, and then they don't seem to like us much. Mmm, puzzling ... (God give me strength!)


The point to my ramblings (yes there is a point!) is that I think it is time we all stood up and demanded that our government (living on another planet from us maybe? If only!) draw up a political strategy to pull the troops out of Afghanistan as quickly as possible, and use some of the money saved to develop that country (given to Afghans not western contractors that leech off supposed international aid) and the rest of the money on UK schools, hospitals or state pensions.

That way we might be able to start building a more ethical relationship of mutual respect with Islamic nations as a way forward in preventing terror attacks.

And it would be the best way to prevent any more loss of life for Afghans and British troops, and if it took the heavy death toll in recent days to bring us to our senses then the deaths won't be in vain, if we continue to bury our heads in the sand and fail to admit the reality, then there will be soldiers dying for nothing.