davidbfpo
10-07-2011, 08:26 PM
Currently there are 282 threads in this OEF - Afghanistan folder, covering a variety of topics and some undoubtedly are duplicates.
Today is the tenth anniversary of the start of this campaign or war, which has prompted a few articles that I have spotted in my daily reading (listed below).
All manner of questions come to mind, notably around was it worthwhile - a question posed in this:
According to a recent CBS News poll, 58 percent of Americans believe we should not be fighting in the shadows of the Hindu Kush. This week, the Pew Research Center released a survey showing that only 50 percent of veterans who have served in the military since the attacks of 9/11 believe the war in Afghanistan has been worth the cost in lives and treasure.
From:http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/10/07/a_decade_at_war_111607.html
From the father of a UK soldier killed in 2006, slightly edited:
..the war had been "totally, utterly a waste of time. They died in vain." ...."When the government went into Afghanistan, they claimed it was our interests. The whole thing was a lie. They were hooked into something that they should have checked out....Afghanistan deserves something better than what we're leaving them with..
Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/8812110/Afghanistan-war-10-year-anniversary-Terrible-mistake-sent-young-and-brave-to-die-in-vain
Sherard Cowper-Coles reflects:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/8811172/Its-a-fantasy-to-think-we-are-winning-the-war-in-Afghanistan.html
He ends with:
But I do know that, bad though it is to send a young soldier out to fight and die for his country without the best equipment, it is even worse to send him out without a strategy in which any serious analyst can believe.
As others have noted British TV programming has - now - a regular diet of embedded reporting or soldier's own filming; rarely with any context given or quickly left alone, e.g. this week armoured vehicles driving through poppy fields.
A somewhat strange, short story with President Karzai's lament and General McChrystal:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/8813658/Karzai-we-have-failed-to-provide-proper-security-to-the-Afghan-people.html
A short, strategic assessment:http://offshorebalancer.wordpress.com/2011/10/07/ten-years-in-afghanistan/
Personally I think the British national interest has been poorly served, especially since going into Helmand in 2006.
Today is the tenth anniversary of the start of this campaign or war, which has prompted a few articles that I have spotted in my daily reading (listed below).
All manner of questions come to mind, notably around was it worthwhile - a question posed in this:
According to a recent CBS News poll, 58 percent of Americans believe we should not be fighting in the shadows of the Hindu Kush. This week, the Pew Research Center released a survey showing that only 50 percent of veterans who have served in the military since the attacks of 9/11 believe the war in Afghanistan has been worth the cost in lives and treasure.
From:http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/10/07/a_decade_at_war_111607.html
From the father of a UK soldier killed in 2006, slightly edited:
..the war had been "totally, utterly a waste of time. They died in vain." ...."When the government went into Afghanistan, they claimed it was our interests. The whole thing was a lie. They were hooked into something that they should have checked out....Afghanistan deserves something better than what we're leaving them with..
Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/8812110/Afghanistan-war-10-year-anniversary-Terrible-mistake-sent-young-and-brave-to-die-in-vain
Sherard Cowper-Coles reflects:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/8811172/Its-a-fantasy-to-think-we-are-winning-the-war-in-Afghanistan.html
He ends with:
But I do know that, bad though it is to send a young soldier out to fight and die for his country without the best equipment, it is even worse to send him out without a strategy in which any serious analyst can believe.
As others have noted British TV programming has - now - a regular diet of embedded reporting or soldier's own filming; rarely with any context given or quickly left alone, e.g. this week armoured vehicles driving through poppy fields.
A somewhat strange, short story with President Karzai's lament and General McChrystal:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/8813658/Karzai-we-have-failed-to-provide-proper-security-to-the-Afghan-people.html
A short, strategic assessment:http://offshorebalancer.wordpress.com/2011/10/07/ten-years-in-afghanistan/
Personally I think the British national interest has been poorly served, especially since going into Helmand in 2006.