We’re not going to win in Afghanistan!
Britain’s military commander in Helmand Province has said that we should not expect a “decisive military victory”.
Speaking in The Sunday Times, Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith also said that we should be prepared for a deal with the Taleban.
Carleton-Smith, commander of 16 Air Assault Brigade, which has just completed its second tour of Afghanistan, said it was necessary to “lower our expectations”. He said: “We’re not going to win this war. It’s about reducing it to a manageable level of insurgency that’s not a strategic threat and can be managed by the Afghan army.”
The brigadier added: “We may well leave with there still being a low but steady ebb of rural insurgency . . . I don’t think we should expect that when we go there won’t be roaming bands of armed men in this part of the world. That would be unrealistic and probably incredible.”
“We want to change the nature of the debate from one where disputes are settled through the barrel of the gun to one where it is done through negotiations,” Carleton-Smith said.
“If the Taliban were prepared to sit on the other side of the table and talk about a political settlement, then that’s precisely the sort of progress that concludes insurgencies like this. That shouldn’t make people uncomfortable.”
Talking with the terrorists? Whatever next?
It is worth noting that no campaign fought against people employing guerrilla tactics has ever been successful through force of arms - peace has always been negotiated - and no nation has ever successfully invaded and conquered Afghanistan. Just with these two facts in mind, we should realise that negotiating with these people, alien though their philosophies may be, is a foregone conclusion.