Secret UK troops plan for Afghan crisis

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

BRIAN BRADY
WESTMINSTER EDITOR

DEFENCE chiefs are planning to rush thousands of British troops to Afghanistan in a bid to stop the country sliding towards civil war, Scotland on Sunday can reveal.

Ministers have been warned they face a "complete strategic failure" of the effort to rebuild Afghanistan and that 5,500 extra troops will be needed within months if the situation continues to deteriorate.

An explosive cocktail of feuding tribal warlords, insurgents, the remnants of the Taliban, and under-performing Afghan institutions has left the fledgling democracy on the verge of disintegration, according to analysts and senior officers.

The looming crisis in Afghanistan is a serious setback for the US-led 'War on Terror' and its bid to promote western democratic values around the world.

http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=559872005

[LuckyTheDog]

1. This is huge

It just shows how Bush has abandoned the war on terrorism in favor of his Iraqi adventure.

[maddezmom]

2. dear lord...and Friday US military was saying the Taliban was waning

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1489907

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

3. Goes to show again the ineptitude and greed of this misadministration. nt

[Barrett808]

4. Sy Hersh said this several months ago

"NATO is falling apart in Afghanistan" iirc.

[oblivious]

5. Are those the same "remnants" who brought down the Soviet Union?

[DavidDvorkin]

6. Victory is near in Afghanistan!

Er, for someone.

If this happens -- thousands of British troops rushed into a deadly and deteriorating military situation -- the anger against Blair will really boil over.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

7. Kicking for the Sunday Morning Crowd.

[TexasLawyer]

8. Another possible angle

If the US and Israel do end up attacking Iran, then the US may need to pull out many of the troops it currently has posted in Afghanistan and transfer them to the new war front.

The "coalition" couldn't just leave a void in Afghanistan. After all, who will protect the poppies??!!??

[Bridget Burke]

9. "When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,

And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier."

Kipling was far from a simplistic jingoist. He knew the cost of Empire. And he knew that Empires always end.

www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/1146.html