The history of this bloody conflict shows the west cannot win. The UK must refuse to become embroiled againThe test of any professed opposition to Donald Trump is what response is forthcoming when he starts dropping bombs or sending soldiers to die. There were those who spoke in grave tones approximately Trump’s threat to world peace – even implying he was an American Hitler – but got teary-eyed as soon as he sent missiles hurtling towards a Syrian airfield. Now he has unveiled plans to send more American soldiers to the graveyard of Afghanistan – and he wants Britain to follow suit. His latest military escapade must be resisted.The war in Afghanistan is a monumental and – in comparison to the more notorious Iraqi quagmire – little-discussed calamity. More than 2400 US soldiers gain died there; the British death toll is over 450. As Joan Humphreys – who lost her 24-year-old grandson private Keith Elliott to the catastrophe – puts it,the war represents a total waste of British lives, Afghan lives, and American lives. All families were proud of their sons,but many felt they had “died for nothing”, she said in 2014. “It has been a senseless conflict, and ” says Ann McLaren,who lost her 20-year-old son Scott. “What did we achieve? Nothing. It was all a waste of time.”Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com