Needed: an exit strategy from Afghanistan


7:40 am - September 4th 2009

by Septicisle    


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Eric Joyce’s resignation as PPS to defence minister Bob Ainsworth is to say the least, intriguing.

Joyce is most certainly on the Blairite wing of Labour, and even under Brown until recently a major loyalist, and with little chance of influencing any sort of attempt to overthrow the prime minister, it seems his decision to go is based purely on his considerable discontent over the war in Afghanistan.

Joyce sets out, while clearly trying to be as non-threatening and as lightly critical as he can while questioning the entire current strategy, that the public is not so stupid as to believe or to much longer put up with the “terrorism” justification, that we are punching way above our weight in our current operations, and that we should be able to make clear that there has to be some sort of timetable outlining just how long our commitment is both able and willing to last.

All of this should be way beyond controversy, yet already we have the ludicrous sentiment from both Bob Ainsworth and the even more ridiculous Lord West that they don’t recognise the picture which Joyce sets out (“confused and disjointed” was West described it).

The only part which it’s difficult to agree with Joyce on is his criticism of the other NATO countries’ contribution: who can possibly blame France, Germany and Italy for not wanting to spend a similar amount of both their blood and treasure to us on a war in which they can’t even begin to claim as we do that it’s preventing terrorism on their streets?

The reason why it doesn’t seem right to truly coruscate Labour over the utter cowardice of their current lack of a policy is that it’s a failure of leadership which is shared across all three of the major parties. For all their protests and attacks on the government over Afghanistan, you could barely get a cigarette paper between both the Conservatives and Lib Dems’ own ideas on what we should be doing.

All still think, at least in public, despite doubtless their private misgivings, that this is both a war that is worth fighting and one which can be “won”, whatever their own idea is of a victory.

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About the author
'Septicisle' is a regular contributor to Liberal Conspiracy. He mostly blogs, poorly, over at Septicisle.info on politics and general media mendacity.
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Story Filed Under: Blog ,Foreign affairs ,Realpolitik ,South Asia ,Westminster

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Reader comments


1. Chris

Agreed on the British establishment’s sniping at the continental countries. Their governments have tried to limit their involvement in a completely stupid, wasteful and unjustified war. Well done them. Ours, meanwhile, doesn’t seem to care how many of our young men are killed in this ridiculous mess.

The exit strategy is simple. British (or American, or French, German, Italian) troops are not a solution to anything in Afghanistan. It’s someone else’s country. Gordon Brown did not win an election there. Nor did Obama. Gordon Brown does not have the right to govern there. Or install a puppet government. Britain should leave. Immediately.


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  5. Liberal Conspiracy » Needed: an exit strategy from Afghanistan | Afghanistan Today

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