lord of the blog

« Light relief from the House | Main | Food advertising »

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Afghanistan

There was a statement in the House on the extra troops deployed in Afghanistan yesterday. I intervened after the Conservative Shadow Minister said he thought the troops might not know what they were doing there.

I don't think that is true and I think our troops are well trained for these complex nation building and war fighting situations. It is a difficult balance but it is one we are going to frequently encounter in the context of failed states.

http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld199697/ldhansrd/pdvn/lds06/text/60710-0890.htm

Hi Clive,

"It is a difficult balance but it is one we are going to frequently encounter in the context of failed states."

This seems to imply your overt acknowledgement and acquiescence of future adventures our troops will be dropped into.

Where?

Regs, Andy

Sadly they may know what they are doing, and they may think it is right, but sadly in a country like this we are kicking a dead donkey. How can we keep the peace or act as security for a country which has spent hundreds of years fighting each other, war lords, and gangs. All we are doing right now is putting our young soldiers in the no win position. Fine go after Bin Laden, and fight the Teleban, but to do this we must deploy enough troops air support and of course the one thing we have been missing of late, up to date intelligence.

Sadly I can see both Afghanistan and Iraq returning to the bad old days of war lords.

The issue that comes to hand in Afghanistan is the obvious beast of security, but also the issue of economic development. As much post-Cold War literature [such as "The Lexus and the Olive Tree"] suggests, democracy requires a free market to foster and vice versa. Yet, the international community has not taken such an active approach to providing such a construction. Additionally, if economic development was brought to areas of Afghanistan as a direct result of the work of the international community, perhaps, locals would be more receptive to the presence of U.N. forces.

This is not only a problem which is noted in Afghanistan, but that of neighbouring countries such as: Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, etc. This has been all seen in the recent Tulip Revolution that has taken place as well as various raids on pro-democracy groups that were branded as "Islamic extremists" by political opponents.

The West has a vested effort in such an area noting the competitive positioning of regional powers. Also, the lack of seccurity in Central Asia allows for such activities as the easy flow of illicit drugs and human trafficking [not to mention the possible movement of weapons cross-border which could possibly end up in the hands of extremist groups]. -Kevin