And now the news on Afghanistan from Her Majesty’s Government Foreign Affairs website:
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advise against all or all but essential travel to different parts of the country according to provincial region:
Kabul
the FCO advise against all travel to the Surobi, Paghman, Musayhi, Khak-e Jabbar and Chahar Asyab Districts of Kabul province
the FCO advise against all but essential travel to the city of Kabul
Northern Afghanistan
the FCO advise against all travel to Balkh, Kunduz, Badakhshan and the Baghlan-e Jadid District of Baghlan
the FCO advise against all but essential travel to Takhar, Faryab, Jawzjan, Samangan, Sari Pul and the remainder of Baghlan
Eastern Afghanistan
the FCO advise against all travel to Ghazni, Kapisa, Khost, Kunar, Laghman, Logar, Nangarhar, Nuristan, Paktika, Wardak and Paktya
the FCO advise against all but essential travel to Bamiyan, Parwan and Panjshir
Southern Afghanistan
the FCO advise against all travel to Helmand, Kandahar, Nimroz, Uruzgan and Zabul
Western Afghanistan
the FCO advise against all travel to Badghis and Farah, and the Shindand and Gozarah Districts of Herat province
the FCO advise against all but essential travel to Dai Kundi, Ghor and remaining districts in Herat
There is a high threat from terrorism and specific methods of attack are evolving and increasing in sophistication. There is a high threat of kidnapping throughout the country. See Terrorism
Recent months have seen the following attacks against foreign targets in Kabul:
17 May 2015 – a vehicle borne explosive device was used against an EU Police Mission vehicle near Kabul airport, killing at least 3 people
13 May 2015 – an attack on a hotel in central Kabul, killing at least 15 people
26 February 2015 – a Turkish embassy vehicle was attacked by a suicide vehicle borne explosive device, killing 1 person
29 January 2015 – a gunman opened fire against American contractors at the airport complex, killing 3 people
25 January 2015 – a vehicle borne explosive device detonated near the north entrance to Kabul airport
12 January 2014 – a British Embassy vehicle was attacked by a small explosive device in eastern Kabul
5 January 2015 – a USAID vehicle was targeted by a small explosive device near the airport
Dan Jarvis MP, who served in Afghanistan, writes today:
“The situation is incredibly fragile. The suicide bombings continue. Fighting has intensified this year and spread to new areas. Corruption is widespread, and it is unclear whether the administration can tackle it. Successive elections have been undermined and the authorities in the provinces are still seen as lacking legitimacy.
“The basic fact is that the war that Britain gave so much to win is still being fought, and its outcome is uncertain.”
And these statistics:
140,000K troops served
£21.5bn Total operational cost
453 UK troops killed
108 Died in 2009 – the worst year
470 Mentors staying on
??? Seriously injured
Prince Harry and David Cameron were among 3500 people who today attended the Bastion Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum, Staffordshire, which bears the names of all 453 UK personnel who died in Afghanistan. Harry’s words were very good but there was one particular section that struck me. He said: “As we sit here amongst friends, we can take comfort in the knowledge that they gave their lives doing a job they loved, for a country they loved, and amongst mates who loved them dearly.” As a former soldier himself, who twice served in Afghanistan, the words are particularly poignant. But I am troubled. What, if anything, has changed?
Since we withdrew from Afghanistan, things have hardly got better, as the Foreign Office’s grim analysis reads. The aim of the invasion was allegedly to dismantle al-Qaeda and to remove the Taliban from power and so make our country safer. Written in isolation, it almost seems to make sense. Terrorists were being trained in Afghanistan. If we stopped them being trained, we would stop terrorism. But did we make Afghanistan any better when everyone is strongly advised not to go there or they’ll be killed? Is our country any safer when we are still on a maximum terrorist alert? Did all these brave men and women die or get injured for nothing? I am not going to say that for sure but I am far from convinced that what happened in Afghanistan was any more effective than what happened in Iraq. We came, we conquered and got the hell out.
It could well be that al-Qaeda are in retreat now but that’s mainly because ISIS are on the march. Who’d have thought anyone could be any worse than al-Qaeda, but this lot make them look as extreme as the Women’s Institute.
Do we ever learn that you cannot bomb your way to peace? We’re still doing it in Syria and a fine lot of good it’s doing us. In fact, if David Cameron had his way, we’d be engaged in a full scale war over there by now, the same David Cameron who voted in favour of both the Iraq and Afghan wars. Ed Miliband is a much reviled figure now, but at least he voted against Iraq and Syria (but not, sadly, the Afghan adventure).
Maybe it’s me, but I never saw the logic of invading Iraq or Afghanistan. These were not popular positions at the time because public opinion, guided by a vocal media, was strongly for both campaigns. I remember the late Charles Kennedy getting slaughtered by the Sun newspaper for opposing the Iraq war, all but suggesting he was unpatriotic, a traitor almost and a supporter of the type of appeasement favoured by the Daily Mail before World War 2. Kennedy, bless him, got that call right and the Sun should have said as much in their gushing tribute to his passing.
More than anything, I felt sad at the pictures from the National Memorial Arboretum. Sad at the loss of life and even more sad that the terrible loss and waste of life has ultimately achieved so little.
If you have a spare moment, look at the words of “Where Have All The Flowers Gone?”, a song that was a hit for Peter, Paul and Mary way back when. Written by Pete Seeger in 1955, it remains one of the greatest anti-war tunes ever written and includes the lines: “Where have all the soldiers gone? Gone to graveyards, everyone. Oh, when will they ever learn?”
The truth is ‘they’ have never learned and still soldiers go to war in conflicts that never should have occurred, unwinnable wars with no clear purpose and no exit strategy. It is never the politicians who suffer the consequences of war, always the willing soldier. The politician might lose an election and perhaps retire from politics, but there are always speaking tours, directorships and even the House of Lords to dull the pain.
Prince Harry got the words right today, but it’s politicians who always seem to get the big calls wrong when it comes to international conflict. And politicians, especially Prime Ministers, like their own wars, don’t they?
