Last week the small town of Wootton Bassett came to a standstill once again for the repatriation of soldiers killed in Afghaniston. Apart from the friends, family and comrades of the deceased few communities in the UK will understand the human cost of the conflict to the same extent as the people of Wootton Bassett.
There have been many articles written and opinions given by politicians and commentators on the current situation ranging from calling for an immediate withdrawal to calling for many more troops and resources on the ground. It is clear that many mistakes have been made by politicians on this occassion, it is not possible to fight wars on the cheap and surely the first question that should be asked before commiting troops is "Can we afford to do this?". If we can't then we either don't become involved or the town of Wootten Bassett comes to a standstill more and more frequently.
What is particularly galling about the situation in Afghanistan is that on so many occasions troops are fighting across the same territory they fought over last week or last month. A lack of boots on the ground inevitably means that territory won at such a high cost is surrendered so cheaply.
This is a military campaign being waged by a Government which, having decimated the covenant between the community at large and the armed forces that protect them, believes that bankers in the City of London deserve bailing out while soldiers in conflict zones can be left devoid of the resources needed to do the job. Of course we can only surmise that the army are clear on what the job was they were sent to do, given that the then defence secretary John Reid thought they would come home from the deployment without firing a shot.
The message is clear to any Government, give the military the resources to do the job or bring them home. The services are up to the mission, this Government isn't.
Agree with you completely.
ReplyDeleteThis argument will ultimately boil down, as you say, to what we can afford and what we want our armed forces to be.
The choice we have is to remain a medium sized military power with a wide range of foreign commitments (as we currently are) or to slash our military and foreign commitments and exit the world military stage (Like Italy and Sapin for example)
I passionately believe that Britain must remain a world power and one which isn't afraid to commit if the cause is right.
This does however require a high level of investment which is currently being neglected. New Labours treatment of the armed services has as you have pointed out been disgraceful and a long line of governments have neglected the military covenant which exists between the state and its troops.
The next government will have to grapple with these issues and I hope wont be afraid to invest heavily in our forces during a tight economic environment.