UK withdrawal from Afghanistan - A bridge too far?

In my opinion...

The British Military are scheduled to withdraw from Afghanistan by 2014; the implications are many and troublesome. Secretary of State for Defence, Phillip Hammond has only recently commented on the situation as ‘messy’.

Mr. Hammond said there was little prospect of the Kabul-based government defeating the Taliban "outright", and the most it could hope for was securing key cities and infrastructure.

After more than a decade in Afghanistan postings there for UK personnel have become normality, even affecting the way we now plan, prepare and train for warfare, with some predicting that any future wars will be fought in similar environments with similar aspects of operations. A daunting yet probably truthful thought.

The reality is Afghanistan is a country steeped in history of failings where others have concerned themselves in its issues, did we learn from this? Clearly not, and now it has reached the point of no return, the cry is to withdraw, which will more than likely conclude in a clambering debacle in much need of revisiting, making Mr. Hammonds words pretty poignant, ‘its best hope is to secure key cities and infrastructure’ almost an open admittance that we haven’t achieved bringing stability and peace.

The rational is to be gone by 2014, removing 3,800 troops this year alone. In discussion a reasonable goal but the practicality means that a large burden will be left with those that stay behind in the country to provide security and to assist with the overwhelming task of the removal of assets and equipment, that is all the more likely to take longer than the benchmark of 2014.

2014 as a date is unrealistic, and if it follows any formula to the past then it probably isn’t true and some form of excuse will raise its head and an extension will be made. If this prediction made by many is what’s coming, why does the government not just state so in the first place?

The idea is admirable, and where the public is concerned it wants to see a total withdrawal after years of money, resources and its men and women have been thrown into a war that neither they, nor the government seems to totally understand.