![]() ![]() veterans to those who often kept us alive has been a calamitous miscalculation by the U.K.’s ministry of defense. Making subtle changes in response to public outcry is not a way to repay the debt we owe these Afghans not understanding the ties of U.K. forces at great risk to themselves and their families are being left behind, with their applications for relocation being rejected often in error and an Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy that is clearly not fit for purpose. Global Britain? Make it mean something.Īnd then there is the issue of interpreters those who assisted U.K. government to do so before it is too late. We must act, we have a moral duty to, and I call upon the U.K. Surely we don’t pay £40 billion a year in defense spending and regularly boast of being the biggest defense spender in Europe, only to then try and claim that we cannot operate without the Americans. Sure, it would require a rebalancing of current commitments, but geo-politically, is anything more urgent today? We could physically operate combat air support to Afghan security forces on the ground, if we only had the political will to do so. could operate unilaterally or lead a coalition to fulfil some of these roles. That’s why it breaks so many hearts that we would withdraw so suddenly, without these branches of support, and watch some of those gains get wiped out in mere weeks, as the Taliban overruns Afghan security forces positions, summarily executes Afghan commandos and operates with impunity, unworried by night-time knocks from International Security Assistance Forces. Take that away, and it’s a disaster for an Afghan security apparatus that is still strategically immature. Militarily it’s obvious - modern warfare allows extraordinary effects at scale from small numbers of troops. Those remaining 2,500 troops in Afghanistan clearly had an effect far greater than Biden, or most other political observers, thought. That is what has changed in recent weeks. But done properly, it is absolutely worth it in terms of reducing an insurgency’s momentum, building capability and, crucially, confidence in partnering forces, and critically reducing civilian casualties while retaining Afghan consent. It’s technical it’s hard work it requires a long-lasting commitment. I know this, because that’s what I did in 2006, 2008–20 in Afghanistan. You can get the bulk of it done in that time, but the technical expertise of learning skills like fighting close combined arms battles or maturing a high-risk man-hunting special forces capability - the bedrock of any counter-insurgency campaign - takes a far greater period of time. But if you are looking to rebuild an entire nation’s military capability to withstand ever-evolving adversaries, such as ISIS or the Taliban, you cannot do it in one or two decades. ![]() What can we do? Clearly we cannot remain in Afghanistan forever. They know our military weakness lies with our political masters searching for quick wins and clean outcomes they can claim credit for at their next election and who are hampered by a criminal disinterest in the effects of their choices on those sent into the fight. “You have the watches, but we have the time” - or words to that effect - were said by every Taliban commander I knew of. But to think we can just leave is child’s play - the sort of student politics that permeates far too much of our political life at the moment. The debate over going there in the first place is redundant. But these wars of choice - Iraq and now Afghanistan - require, by their very nature, an enduring commitment. It seems expensive, never ending and at times fruitless. I also completely understand the war-fatigue experienced by so many who have not fought there. Defense Secretary Robert Gates), what is happening today matters more than most of his previous mistakes.Īs a former officer who has served there, of course, I am emotionally tied to Afghanistan. foreign policy and national security issue of the last 40 years (not my words, ask the ex U.S. Even if you ignore the fact that Biden has been wrong on almost every U.S.
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