Fabioso

What are we trying to do in Afghanistan?

Cos I don't have a clue and it seems to me neither does Flash...........

All we are going to see is British casualty after casualty.....unless we withdraw and think of something else. The Russians never managed it even with their manpower, so I don't see why this is historic fact is likely to change with the amount of resources we have committed..........

I really feel for the soldiers and their families who are needlessly losing their lives to a mission which imo is frankly impossible to complete

Wake up Gordy! and start working on the exit strategy now because sooner or later you will have to...........

bigsinky

The UK, alongside 40 other nations, is in Afghanistan at the invitation of the democratically elected Afghan Government to help rebuild and develop a country emerging from a quarter century of conflict.

We are there to support Afghanistan's security, reconstruction, good governance and counter-narcotics work.

The UK's efforts are co-ordinated by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, the Department for International Development and the Ministry of Defence.

read more at UK in Afghanistan

HTH

mikef04

iTrader: (7)

This topic of soliders in afghanistan annoys me. Ok what is going on is very bad, but knowing and also serving with soliders who have fought in such conflicts, realise that this is there jobs and they know then risks as you are advised when joining and all the way through basic training. More people have died this year from being struck by buses than have died in afghan since its start but the media seem not to cover this as much. i do feel for the family's whon have lost ones as i have lost friends myself. Things do need to change but time needs to be loud for this to happen. Rant over

pimmo2000

iTrader: (6)

Problem is, these people are being sent there.. they are (in some peoples view) wasting their time and risking their lives for no reason.

I dont have a view, its 9:13am and I'm 200 miles from home .. in a hotel .. I'm just waiting for the room service lady to come back ..

*sits naked supporting a massive .. smile*

mikef04

iTrader: (7)

i know what you mean but soliders are deployed all around the world they are still serving inn Northern Ireland, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar etc.. but you only ever seem to hear if someone has died, you never hear of the good they are doing rebuilding countries which have been destroyed which is what they have to do.

BTW what type of hotel you in???

tanyatriangles

iTrader: (2)

If we are supporting their government's anti-drugs policy, it's not very good. The last piece I saw on TV about Afghanistan showed soldiers walking apparently unconcerned, through a HUGE field of opium poppies, which were even described as a cash crop.

WTF ARE we doing about that?

Go on, I know the answer of course: we have to let the poor Afghani farmers grow that sh*te until we can convince them not to, and find something else they can grow that gives them a nice profit.

David Lock

[quote=tanyatriangles;8921212

WTF ARE we doing about that?

[/quote]


Well actually the British worked hard to identify the big boys in the drug operations and got several sent down for long terms.

But the President knew some of them and got them released to boost his election prospects.

The whole place is rotten through and through and we should get out. Then use the money saved (quite a lot) to help Pakistan's genuine anti-Taliban efforts and jack up UK's own home security. But this would be too big a pill for Brown to swallow. Pity the Tories don't take this view and then it could all be done after our own election.

dl

Leslie

That nice Flash is going to explain it all to us today they say. Wonder if he will explain why he has encouraged all those criminal elements to enter our country though!

Les

finalzero

Actually the british troops are just the patsies in this whole mess taking the **** for the criminal activities of the US goverment.

Anyone with half a brain knows they are there to ensure a democratic goverment is elected 'of their choosing' so they can lay claim to the massive resources sitting untapped (like the gas and opium).

But the americanistanians somehow get the UK and other goverments involved and when they have finished blowing up innocent people who takes the flak, those very same people who were supposed to be there to support the USA i.e. the british troops.

Someone explain to me why the opium trade sky rocketed when the US invaded Afghanistan?

Sorry but imo no war is justified in this day and age when everything you get told and see is just layers of BS covering up lots of back handed double dealings - one day we are buddies with some country, the next day the are the 'Geometric butthole of evil' or some sh*t like that.

I like how the cronies then turn around and say "we need to get our soldiers killed because they hate our freedom and will attack us"

WELL DUH?!

Of course they will, how would you feel if a load of people came into your house, took over and started marching you around for a long time - you would feel violated and want to retaliate.

Sad truth is instead of making things better our goverments are creating these fanatical murderers.

I tell you what I fear the most, a war starting with Pakistan, because the hardlined fanatics in that country will not take any sh*t and will retaliate with force - the carnage would suck in everyone like a blackhole.

A War Without End

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, but Afghanistan, who gives a flying f*ck, get out and leave it to its own devices, not our problem, the drug trade, so what ? if they dont get it from there it will be South America and they arent waging a war in Colombia, the Taliban get p1ssed off at us and put additional effort into terrorist plans just cos we are there, maybe if left to their own devices they would just go back to f*cking goats and being miserable b4stards.

Still waiting for the moment when I realise the point of all this and go ahhh, but for now its just stories on the news about another camoflaged kid getting blown up by a roadside bomb.

corradoboy

I would hazard a guess that the primary reasons for involvement in the place are geological. Mountains tend to be pushed up from deep in the Earth, and bring with them massive amounts of minerals, and given the arid desert conditions and geological history, there might be untapped oil reserves. Drugs, terrorism and manic dictatorships merely give excuses.

Fabioso

I don't buy Flash's answer it helps secure national security? I was shocked by the financials quoted ............."Mr Brown said in his speech that military spending had been increased, and was about £180,000 per year to support each soldier fighting in 2006 but was now over twice that, £390,000 for each soldier."


**** me, nearly half a million quid per year per soldier...........how many hospitals would that buy us? How many anti-terrorism rozzers could be employed with that money patrolling our own streets to combat the threat of international terrorism?

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

390 grand and they still keep getting killed for the want of equipment ?

moff1888

No doubt that number also includes any training we may require.