MASSACRE OF THE MENTORS...
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at 09:07PM 
Sad to read that FIVE British soldiers have been killed in an attack by an Afghan police officer.
They were Warrant Officer Darren Chant, Sgt Matthew Telford, Guardsman James Major, Acting Cpl Steven Boote and Cpl Nicholas Webster-Smith. A "rogue" Afghan policeman has been blamed by the UK military, but PM Gordon Brown has said the Taliban could have infiltrated the police. The dead soldiers had been mentoring Afghan police in Helmand province.
I caught an interview with one of the on the ground military commanders in Helmand. As ever with our excellent military, he was to the point. He explained that calling these people "police" was "a bit ambitious", they are more accurately defined as tribal militia in uniform. They is no way of checking them out to determine their suitability - this is Afghanistan. He said that British soldiers do not trust these "police" but their mission is to help train them.
Candid, precise and honest.
But is THIS what the war on terror means - training Afghan tribals to be "police"? Your thoughts?
I have always supported the war aim which in my view reduces to killing Al Queda and their Taliban enablers. However along the way we have become in Nation building, mentoring "police forces" and I feel focus has been lost.
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Reader Comments (6)
>>Candid, precise and honest.<<
And eerily presentient, as it turned out.
This is far from the first time that Afghan troops have turned on their US / British allies. In the recent incident where the post in the far east of the country was overrun, Afghan troops of some kind I believe shot two American soldiers in the back. A detail not widely reported in our press
I heard a BBC radio interview with an officer in Helmand this evening. Given that these are usually media liaison types, it's clear the Army is feeling badly let down.
He said it straight that the Afghan police cannot be trusted and that there's no way for the British Army to tell if an individual has been vetted or is an infiltrator. He said also that the election (hail Karzai) has exacerbated the situation because it was common for Afghans, in the run up to the election, to be press ganged into a police uniform, given a rifle and told that they're now police, in a show of security. What was clear is that these are political decisions and the Army has no control here. In that case, this is an unacceptable situation and, yes, our politicians yet again simply don't have a grip.
Reports are that the five murdered had put down their arms and removed body armour. I suspect that standing orders have already been changed.
'But is THIS what the war on terror means - training Afghan tribals to be "police"?'
It has long been the 'liberal' aim to make our military into an elite squad of welfare workers. The very idea of winning hearts and minds, sounds great, especially when working among people of a similar culture and aims as ourselves, but it is a very bad idea when attempting it among people to whom reason is an alien concept.
It was I believe, first attempted back in the 50's in Malaya, - it didn't work then and it isn't working in Afghanisatn. In fact I doubt that it has ever worked. A recent modification of the technique is the Italian twist, where large sums of cash are paid to the enemy not to fire on, or do anything nasty to 'our boys'. In other circumstances it might be called 'paying for protection', but hey! what would Italians know about that?
How do our announcers and media types keep a straight face when talking of the Afghan President....
Karzi - a slang term for toilet. Believed to have entered the English language via the British Army during its sojourn in British India. Seem very appropriate to me!...it gives a whole new meaning to the expression, - 'just going to the karzi'.
I've already stated my view earlier in the post re the BNP/Sellafield visit.
The need to pull out is even more urgent now. This pipedream of someone, somewhere, that we can turn these people into a civilised nation and this training to 'win hearts and minds' must stop NOW.
How many more coffins and how many more broken familiies in this conflict that will achieve nothing apart from slaughter and sacrifice in a strategy that is unworkable and ill-conceived and will never in a million years turn Afghanistan into something even remotely civilised.
Bring the boys back and bring them back now. They are needed here to fight the war on terror where they could be better deployed at ports and airports to monitor the entry of illegal immigrants. Surely, this latest incident must prove to any sane man that this mission is a failure. I cannot bear to watch and listen Gordon Brown uttering his weasel words praising their 'bravery' and reiterating the need for them to be there. Brave as these men are, this was cold blooded murder.
My local paper where one of these young men lived is carrying almost 100 posts - all of them praising the man of course, but nearly all of them wanting to bring the troops home. How can our Prime Minister so misjudge the public mood?
Did I hear right? According to a news bulletin on the TV, the MOD has been recruiting potential Afghanistan Police Officers without appropriate vetting as the desire to build up Police numbers was deemed the primary concern. It is difficult to believe such a course of action was considered and then implemented.