British troops in Afghanistan: stay put or bring them home?

[Bry Nylon]

If the decision was yours, what would you do?

(a) withdraw our troops immediately and leave the Afghans / Taliban to get on with it; or (b) carry on till 2014/15 and see how the land lies then?

Personally, I'd say enough is enough. The mission seems to be woolly, ambiguous and ultimately unachievable. I'd start bringing the troops home tomorrow.

 

[Gerbil]

Withdraw them IMMEDIATELY!

 

[Spicy]

A gradual withdrawal handing over to the Afghan army asap. I am sure they don't know who they can trust and the Afghan government is suspected of being corrupt. Its a no win situation and it strikes me that if the force of the Russian army couldn't beat the Taliban when they were more or less on the doorstep, what chance do we have?

 

[withdeanwombat]

I've voted asap,but the rainbow alliance will say this is 2014.......in the national interest.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Bring them home ASAP and save the futile waste of any more brave men's lives and limbs.

The concept of 'stay til the job is done' is totally bogus. There is no 'job' and there is no 'done'. There's just mounting and unsustainable casualties. The Afghans will revert to being tribal as soon as we withdraw. And why not? It is their country after all. None of our business in the first place. Just another Vietnam.

 

[daveinprague]

Not our war.
Home immediately.

 

[Marc1901]

Take them out of course but isnt it true that if we do get them out that England may get targeted?

 

[HampshireSeagulls]

Time to get out. It would not be dishonouring those who died there, but the war is unwinnable. They have different morals to us - they do not fight the same war. It has always been true that an Afghan is your friend as long as your hand is in your pocket, and buying compliance only works when you keep paying. We are never going to enforce new tribal rules in 4 years, their hatred runs way too deep for that. The war is being fought on too many fronts - whilst the current set of leaked documents look damning, it is always better to remember that we have the luxury of reading them from a nice safe computer chair - not when you have to make a decision wedged into the wheel arch of an armoured vehicle with ordnance flying around and an enemy who don't wear a uniform.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

By now we should have learnt that Afghanistan is a battleground we cannot win. The first Anglo-Afghan war (1838-1842) ended in a massacre when 16,000 British troops and dependants were slaughtered in the mountains following the retreat from Kabul , there was only 1 survivor. The second Anglo-Afghan war (1878-1880) was to stop the Russians invading and gaining influence in the region , again the British fought several ferocious battles and a decisive victory at Kandahar was the final conflict , the diplomatic outcome of the war was the British supported an Amir (Abdul Rahman) coming out of exile to take the throne on the understanding that he would only deal with Britain and we wouldn't meddle in Afghanistan's internal affairs.

 

[steve-c]

as an ex squaddie, stay finish the job. dont forsake the lives that have been lost, other wise their lives have been in vain, and before someone ask's ...yes i would go , and my nephew has volunteered for 3 commando training so he can go , be proud of our boys, even if you dont agree with the conflict, our troops need our support. .................mente et manu....that gives away my old regiment lol :albion1:

 

[Publius Ovidius]

Take them out of course but isnt it true that if we do get them out that England may get targeted?

two words there

1. true

2. may

We will never know if it is true until something, if ever , happens and we will never know if it may happen.

Its all about risk!

 

[tedebear]

Home, defend our borders on our shores. Defend our economy (and oil) on our terms.

Those men and women who have died should not have died in a war of attrition which people have forgotten why we are fighting. Bring them home so we can remember those who can't come home and move on.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

On one hand, I want to protect our troops and we are losing men each day with no apparent end to the conflict or positive result.

However, we have committed ourselves to the area and making it a safer place.

I'm not in any position and do not feel comfortable in making a choice of withdrawing or not withdrawing. I don't know enough about the conflict.

If we do withdraw in the near future and achieve very little, it will be a crying shame for those that have given their lives. A friend was killed in conflict and a number of others have served or will serve in Afghanistan. They are best placed to decide what to do. I can't.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Mark Evison Foundation

 

[Publius Ovidius]

as an ex squaddie, stay finish the job. dont forsake the lives that have been lost, other wise their lives have been in vain, and before someone ask's ...yes i would go , and my nephew has volunteered for 3 commando training so he can go , be proud of our boys, even if you dont agree with the conflict, our troops need our support. .................mente et manu....that gives away my old regiment lol :albion1:

not wishing to pa\tronise you at all and I mean no disrepect, however how do you define " stay and finish the job"

Finish what job? destruction of the taliban? most of which are now in pakistan....so what do we do with them...go after them? the Afghans are so corrupt they will never rule to satisfy the population that has been proved. Its our young men and womans lives that are being destroyed for what?

personally, this is a vietnam and Korea situation with no exit strategy.

 

[beorhthelm]

pull out. the original objective of breaking up the base for militant training has been achived. while there is insufficient security, there is enough to keep the Taliban from power and the people have tasted enough of a world without them to not allow them back. a chap i know who worked out there for a government agency tells me the average Afgan fears but dislikes the Taliban, they have no popular support and he doubts they could retake power. point is theres no actual firm objective, militarily, politically or even economic, so why stay until year x?

 

[HampshireSeagulls]

as an ex squaddie, stay finish the job. dont forsake the lives that have been lost, other wise their lives have been in vain, and before someone ask's ...yes i would go , and my nephew has volunteered for 3 commando training so he can go , be proud of our boys, even if you dont agree with the conflict, our troops need our support. .................mente et manu....that gives away my old regiment lol :albion1:

Hussar! Sorry, hurrah! I don't think we would be forsaking lost lives - it is no longer a winnable battle. Iraq, even when I was first there in '91, has not progressed - 'Stan will be the same. The second power is handed back, it will revert to tribal fighting. Far better I think to pull out now and stop the loss of life rather than pull out in 2014 with another 300ish deaths and who knows how many injuries? We are spending millions fighting tribesmen who do not fight by rules. They can unload with an RPG one second and be a "simple villager" the next - we simply cannot deal with that. The US want to oppress the people into line, we want to run hearts and minds - they locals don't give a shit as long as someone is dipping into their pockets and handing over money.

 

[Fazz62]

If the decision was yours, what would you do?

(a) withdraw our troops immediately and leave the Afghans / Taliban to get on with it; or (b) carry on till 2014/15 and see how the land lies then?

BN

Maybe another option as in......................
(c) reduce our numbers and redistribute them away from the most high risk areas? And let some of the other countries in the Afghan alliance do there bit?

pages 2 and 3 of this link make for interesting reading.

http://www.isaf.nato.int/images/stories/File/Placemats/100706%20Placemat.pdf

 

[Laughing Gravy]

Withdraw them IMMEDIATELY!

Ditto

The poor sods are dying for nothing