The Afghan War after ten years

[davidbfpo]

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/art...ar_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/worl...to-die-in-vain

Sherard Cowper-Coles reflects:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...ghanistan.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/worl...an-people.html

A short, strategic assessment:http://offshorebalancer.wordpress.co...n-afghanistan/

Personally I think the British national interest has been poorly served, especially since going into Helmand in 2006.