A significant degree of concern should be prompted when General Stanley McChrystal, the American commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan (the man in charge of the military mission to bring peace to that much troubled land) stands up and says that the campaign is in serious trouble.
The suggestion that the high price being paid by thousands of Allied personnel (it is after all a NATO supported operation) might end up being in vain, not to mention that the consequences of any resultant failure would have far reaching consequences, not just to NATO but across one of the world's most deeply troubled regions and beyond should provoke deep a degree of concern if not alarm.
Back in 2001, things started so well, with such optimism when the Taliban were overthrown, if you consider that this is a vital mission (possibly the most significant mission ever undertaken by NATO in its 60 year history) how did we get into this mess?
General McChrystal has pulled no punches, he went though a regular litany of mistakes, misjudgements and bad decisions that have taken place over the last eight years, when he spoke to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (in London) recently.
At the heart of the problem stands the basic failure to address the ordinary needs of ordinary Afghans (something which many Aid and Reconstruction Agencies have been concerned about for some years), there were also basic failures within a complex and almost byzantine military (and political) command structure.
You can add also to this the lack of clearly defined objectives and a whole series of gradual (and not so gradual) changes or "mission creep" in the 'mission' over the years and the rising NATO (and Afghan) body count - all of which has helped to understandably undermine and weaken public support for the war effort in every NATO member country.
Especially on the back of a 'flawed' election result... one question that many be increasingly asked is where do we go from here?
No comments:
Post a Comment