Saturday, 7 March 2009

Afghan operation is 'worthless'

The UK's operation in Afghanistan is "worthless" and akin to the start
of the Vietnam war, former SAS commander Maj Sebastian Morley has said.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, he said the government had "blood on
its hands" over the "unnecessary" deaths of four soldiers.

BBC defence correspondent Caroline Wyatt said many on the ground felt
the campaign has been under-resourced".

But the MoD insisted the security challenge was "manageable".

The former SAS commander resigned after Cpl Sarah Bryant and three of
her colleagues died when their Snatch hit a mine in June 2008.

Cpl Bryant was the first female soldier to die in Afghanistan when a
Snatch carrying her and her male colleagues struck an anti-tank mine in
Helmand province.

“ We go out on operations, have a punch-up with the Taleban and then go
back to camp for tea. We are not holding the ground ”
Maj Sebastian Morley
Maj Morley, 40, said he was compelled to stand down after Quentin
Davies, the Minister for Defence Equipment and Support, told an
"unacceptable lie" in the wake of the deaths.

Mr Davies had said commanders had a choice of vehicles, although he has
subsequently said he had not meant to cause any offence.

Speaking for the first time since his resignation, Maj Morley launched a
scathing attack on the state of the military campaign as a whole.

"This is the equivalent to the start of the Vietnam conflict, there is
much more to come.

"We hold tiny areas of ground in Helmand and we are kidding ourselves if
we think our influence goes beyond 500 metres of our security bases.

"We go out on operations, have a punch-up with the Taleban and then go
back to camp for tea. We are not holding the ground."

“ The security challenge is manageable by the available forces and the
overriding mood of the local population is one of optimism and hope. ”
MoD spokesman

And, addressing the use of Snatch Land Rovers, which he deemed to be
unsafe and prompted his decision to stand down, he said: "I had to
resign.

"I had warned (the MoD) time and time again that there were going to be
needless deaths if we were not given the right equipment, and they
ignored this advice. There is blood on their hands.

"There was no other vehicle to use. The simple truth is that the
protection on these vehicles is inadequate and this led to the
unnecessary deaths."

The BBC's Caroline Wyatt said the ex-commander sounded "profoundly
disillusioned" by his experiences", adding that there were an
"incredibly diverse" range of views on the progress of the campaign in
Afghanistan.

However, she said: "It is a campaign that many people on the ground say
has been under resourced [and] under funded on all sides."

Our correspondent pointed to the US' decision to deploy a further 17,000
military personnel to Afghanistan as evidence that the current situation
in the country is problematic and there is a desire for a new strategy.

'Making progress'

A spokesman for the MoD acknowledged that the Snatch was not suitable
for high-risk environments, but was "mission critical" for certain
operations.

He added that new technology and state-of-the art armoured vehicles were
continuing to reach Afghanistan, and the anticipated arrival of
additional US troops meant the fight would be taken to the Taleban with
greater vigour than ever.

"It is true that in an area the size of Helmand there is a limit to how
much ground we can hold," the spokesman said.

"But that does not mean we are not making progress. We are.

"The security challenge is manageable by the available forces and the
overriding mood of the local population is one of optimism and hope."

He added: "Quentin Davies has already made clear that any offence caused
by remarks he made on the issue was entirely inadvertent."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk/7929785.stm

Published: 2009/03/07 09:54:24 GMT