30 Mar 2009

Afghanistan: soldiers' reports tell of undue optimism, chaos, and policy made on the hoof

Britain's top diplomat in Afghanistan has admitted to "misplaced optimism", and a senior commander has said that military policy is being made up as they go along, according to an account by UK soldiers fighting the Taliban, which will be published this week.

Operation Snakebite, by Stephen Grey, a journalist, describes behind-the-scenes tension between British troops and officials in Afghanistan and London, the poor state of the army's equipment, and the political and military chaos that occurred in 2007 as British and US troops retook from the Taliban the district of Musa Qala, a place regarded as a key objective in the province of Helmand.

Brigadier John Lorimer, commander of UK forces in southern Afghanistan, is quoted as comparing the operations to having been "mowing the lawn", when Taliban fighters returned quickly to villages seized but then let go by the stretched British troops.

The Guardian