Losing the war in Afghanistan

Gordon brown called it ‘the most noble cause of the 21^st century.’ But today the commander of UK troops in Afghanistan has presented a rather different assessment. According to Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith ‘we’re not going to win this war’ and that talks with the Taliban are the way forward.

His remarks follow on from leaked remarks attributed to the British ambassador in Kabul, the exotically named Sherard Cowper-Coles, that foreign troops were part of the problem and that what was needed was an ‘acceptable dictator.’

It’s seven years tomorrow since the British government, along with the US and its other allies launched the war on Afghanistan _ the first war in the war on terror. An estimated 10,000 died during that war, but since then things have gone even further downhill. Many thousands more have died, there is a mass refugee problem, there has been virtually no reconstruction, despite the extravagant promises of Tony Blair seven years ago that ‘we will not walk away.’

No wonder dictatorship is the favoured British option. The Karzai government is corrupt and holds little sway in the country. Free elections would not produce a pro western government. So what’s needed is someone who runs the country on behalf of the occupiers.

What a lesson in humanitarian intervention Afghanistan is. No women’s liberation…no reconstruction..no peace….no democracy…dependence on the opium crop. It’s like a Brecht play except there’s no interval and no end.