my son has just asked me a question i can't answer, and i now feel inadequate……

why are british troops in afghanestan??

NATO led mission against Taliban and others

OFFICIAL ANSWER

All there in official language.

How far back do you want to go?

IIRC and not going back too far the Russians invaded and fought a long war, the opposition to them was trained and financed by the USA – the Russians left and the courty remained fractured. The opposition to the russions became the Taliban ( means students) who took over in the power vacuum left. They became a fundamentalist islamic regime. Uk forces invaded under UN auspices to remove the taliban. Now the UK forces are stuck there in a civil war with no winners.

I can't remember what the actual trigger for the UK / nato / Un invasion was

thanks fellas………

TandemJeremy – Member

I can't remember what the actual trigger for the UK / nato / Un invasion was

Ok – so from that official blurb it was about kicking the shite out of some fuzzy wuzzies in revenge for 11/9

Ton- yesterday on the Jeremy Vine show (radio 2) they had an explanation, giving both sides of the argument.
You can 'listen again' on i-player.

All there in official language.

Except for the truth of course.

Still, they say that the first causality of war is the truth.

The stated intent of military operations was to remove the Taliban from power because of the Taliban's refusal to hand over Osama bin Laden.

It was made absolutely clear to the Afghan leader Mullah Omar, that if Afghanistan cooperated and handed over Osama bin Laden for trial for the attack on the Twin Towers, no military action would take place.

Mullah Omar refused to hand over Osama bin Laden to the US, saying that he would only consider cooperating if Osama bin Laden was to face trial in a neutral country. Though it is debatable whether Mullah Omar was actually in a strong enough position to capture and hand over Osama bin Laden.

The US refused to agree to this, so as a consequence military action was initiated. It is interesting to note that the official propaganda as outlined in the MoD fact sheet doesn't even mention Osama bin Laden's name.

Of course within a matter of weeks everybody had forgotten that the reason for going to Afghanistan was Osama bin Laden's capture, and very quickly nobody bothered asking where he in fact was. Which I have no doubt played a very important part in Tony Blair's decision to go into Iraq. Presumably Blair thought that he could give the capture of WMDs as the reason for going to war in Iraq, and very soon people would not bother asking why they hadn't materialised. Unfortunately for him it didn't quite worked out like that.

Worth remembering also, that it was the Northern Alliance which overthrew the Taliban, not the US and her stooges.

Uk forces invaded under UN auspices to remove the taliban

Not quite. After 9/11 the US invaded to clear out Al Qaeda who the Taliban had allowed to set up shop in Afghanistan. Whilst clearing out Al qaeda the Taliban were removed from power and are now trying to regain it. The US then instead of clearing up the mess they'd created then bullied NATO into helping out hence our involvement (however British special forces were involved right from the start)

kicking the shite out of some fuzzy wuzzies

Hope you were being ironic there TJ otherwise not very PC

I can recommend the answer given by Harriet Harman today at PMQs to this same question.

If only as an example of how NOT to answer the question.

If you don't take the war to them then they will take theirs to your door step. Simple.

Uponthedowns – just a little bit. Trying to capture the neocolonialist attitude 🙂

Chewk – pleae tell me how afgan peasants are going to invade the UK? Do you really think they were a threat to us?

Its worth noting that the taliban had virtualy eliminated opium poppies as a cash crop but now its bigger than ever before

TJ,

They have already done so on 7/7.

Not the peasants they are mainly growing weed to export.

😯

Chewkw – I don't think they were afganis. British in the main of pakistani descent. Trained in pakistan anyway that was after the uk invasion of afganistan.

do try to have some truth in what you say. Numpty

US invaded to clear out Al Qaeda who the Taliban had allowed to set up shop

Actually it was the United States which helped Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda set up shop in Afghanistan.

The US built their training camps, armed them with some of the most sophisticated weaponry in the world, trained them, and financed them – in fact they financed Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda with a lot of money.

Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda were very well established in Afghanistan long before the Taliban came to power.

Well worth remembering that.

And btw, the Taliban were created and helped to power, by the Pakistani state intelligence services – indeed they could never have achieved power without them. That's Pakistan – our friend and ally.

Western foreign policy has much to answer for. Specially foreign policy from the Reagan/Thatcher era.

Wasn't Ho Chi Min (sp?) a CIA operative, then years later the US is fighting The Vietnam War against him.

I believe US did give Ho Chi Min some support when his forces were fighting both the French Vichy government and the Japanese. When Ho Chi Min eventually declared independence from France, he basically took the American Declaration of Independence and substituted the words 'United States and Britain' for 'Vietnam and France' ……. the guy was a smart operator 😉

and oh ……. I don't think Ho Chi Min could have been described as a 'CIA operative' – I believe that he was a founding member of the Communist Party of France 😯

Its worth noting that the taliban had virtualy eliminated opium poppies as a cash crop but now its bigger than ever before

It's also worth noting that both the Afghan Govt, and the Taliban are collecting taxes from and the actual heroin crop now though

Ernie-Lynch,

I wouldn't say the Northern Alliance overthrew the Taliban as such. Until the yanks rocked up they were getting their arses handed to them on a daily basis and were losing what little ground they still controlled very quickly. Plus they lost their commander days before the US invasion which was going to lead to even more disastrous results. (Blown up by a suicide bomber with explosives hidden in his TV camera)

US forces used the NA as expendable infantry, guides, and to hold recently cleared terrain etc etc but the overwhelming damage to the Taliban was caused by US air power and SF.

Many books written post-invasion have argued that if the US had told the NA to stay put and sent in an equivalent amount of their own infantry then more effective ops etc could have taken place and the chance of catching senior Taliban and AQ personnel would have been higher. However this was weighed against the chances of the NA going "bad" and the PR benefits of having an Afghan face on the operation.

I wouldn't say the Northern Alliance overthrew the Taliban as such.

Well there you go

………I would.

The Taliban didn't fall as a result of US bombing.

Kabul falls to Northern Alliance

Whilst clearing out Al qaeda the Taliban were removed from power and are now trying to regain it. The US then instead of clearing up the mess they'd created then bullied NATO

Nope, NATO/OTAN announced invocation of the article V of the charter if attack was proven to be from abroad, this was confirmed a few weeks later, prior to an invasion.

http://www.nato.int/docu/update/2001/1001/e1002a.htm

(article V being an agreement that an attack against one was an attack against all)

Funny how before the US turned up they were getting a right spanking yet afterwards they got their shit together. And iirc (and I do) the Taliban had left Kabul in the face of the expected arse raping heading their way in the form of a shedload of B-52s and the NA alliance waltzed into Kabul with little actual fighting taking place.

The entire US plan was to hammer the Taliban from the skies, get SF doing all kinds of sneaky stuff on the ground and pay the NA to clean up the mess (under the supervison of US "advisors"). Just because the NA "took" a position it doesn't mean it did the dirty work.

So we'll have to agree to disagree.

As I see it, the fundamental reason for occupation is/was to deny the extremist factions of certain religions being able to freely train in all things terror. These people are normally one of two types; Criminal factions looking to further their personal ends or proper fruitcake nutjob religious zealots who will not rest until only people of a certain religion exist in the world and the rest have converted or are dead.
The poppy growth is absolutely down to Terry nowadays as they are the ones who buy it, do not try to pretend otherwise. TJ, there are people to whom the terms pakistani and afghan mean nothing neither do borders, so there is often little distinction. Ernie, the beeb can try to spin it how they like but terms like

Troops were backed by rockets and US bombing

are not really refutable.

The entire US plan was to hammer the Taliban from the skies

Great plan. Only it doesn't win wars.

They tried the "shedload of B-52s" strategy in Vietnam.

Great plan. Only it doesn't win wars.

It certainly doesn't win asymmetric wars with high concentrations of civilians mixed with a non uniformed enemy.

It certainly doesn't win asymmetric wars with high concentrations of civilians mixed with a non uniformed enemy.

Is that why the massive and relentless Allied bombing of Germany didn't topple the Nazi regime either ?

I think we've also missed the obvious, it's also about oil…..

The second option is to build a pipeline south from Central Asia to the Indian Ocean. One obvious route south would cross Iran, but this is foreclosed for American companies because of U.S. sanctions legislation. The only other possible route is across Afghanistan, which has of course its own unique challenges. The country has been involved in bitter warfare for almost two decades, and is still divided by civil war. From the outset, we have made it clear that construction of the pipeline we have proposed across Afghanistan could not begin until a recognized government is in place that has the confidence of governments, lenders, and our company.

From here; http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/oil.html

I've no idea if this is a good source or not, but it seemed to fit my quick research needs…

No, I don't think that WW2 qualifies as asymetric.
Do you remeber something called the blitz, and that the luftwaffe was 4 times the size of the RAF? That at one point that the RAF were down to less that 100 aircraft/pilots? I really don't see your point.
Couldn't be more different.

Backhander – my point was that chewk was saying we had to go into afganistan because of the 7/7 bombers – I pointed out they were british and had been trained in Pakistan. Nothing to do with afghanistan.

… and, ton, wait til he asks you about 'LESBIANS, DAD, WHAT ARE THEY THEN?' in the Post Office queue…

No, I don't think that WW2 qualifies as asymetric.

LOL ! …. exactly my point !

This great plan of 'hammering the enemy from the skies' simply doesn't win wars – including 'conventional wars' It needs a lot more than that.

it's also about oil….

Pretty minor consideration imo. The plan was much more ambitious – that of 'Full-Spectrum Dominance' as formulated by the once highly influential, and yet now strangely quiet, Project for the New American Century.

Hence having the NA (and "advisors") wandering in afterwards to literally pick up the pieces… Do you not remember watching the bbc et al interviewing NA commanders as they watched the USAF go to town? They were chuffed as **** to see the bombs falling as they knew that without air support there was no way in hell they were going to win – the last few years had proven that.

Air power doesn't win wars – but it helps. And not having air power is a good way for conventional forces to go about losing a war. (And during the NA Vs Taliban fighting prior to 9/11 the fighting was mostly conventional)

So if not the the yanks how do you explain the massive overnight improvement in the effectiveness of the NA?

Absolutely IvanDobski, the Taliban had driven the Northern Alliance into just a small enclave from where they were completely unable to mount any counter-offensives. What turn things round for the Northern Alliance was the fact that acquired themselves an airforce – ie the US airforce. The Taliban didn't really stand any chance once the Northern Alliance had got themselves an airforce. It was still the Northern Alliance which toppled the Taliban though. The fact that they got help doesn't change anything.

See, we're seeing the same thing from a slightly different perspective.

I see it as the USAF and friends "won the war" and the NA took the glory and did the marching into abandoned positions bit. (a la the Kuwaitis in GW1 and the French in WW2)

You see it as the NA won the war with the help of the USAF.

Fair enough, but the yanks could've done just as good a job on their own had they paid the NA to stay in bed and sent in their own infantry. Might have cost a bit more cash and a few more lives but it would've still happened. The NA would've gotten another spanking if they hadn't had the USAF onside.

(Obviously the taliban have since changed their tactics and moved away from mass charges of gunned up toyota pick-ups…)

and the NA took the glory

What exactly are you talking about ? It's the United states which has taken all the glory.

"and the French in WW2" LOL …. so how do you explain the French causalities then ?

French casualties in WW2 were 1.35% of the population, as opposed to 0.94% of the UK population, and 0.32% of the US population.

.

BTW, this comment by backhander made me smile : "Ernie, the beeb can try to spin it how they like" ….. because of course everyone knows that the BBC is paid by the Northern Alliance to act as their spin-doctors for them 😀

TandemJeremy: "Backhander – my point was that chewk was saying we had to go into afganistan because of the 7/7 bombers – I pointed out they were british and had been trained in Pakistan. Nothing to do with afghanistan."

Now now calm down TJ … they are just hiding in both countries so better go to Afghanistan first since Taliban is crying out loudest with their "guest" the Osama.

Besides, now that Pakistani govt knows snakes do bite back if not careful, so let's get it over and done with.

"Chewkw – I don't think they were afganis. British in the main of pakistani descent. Trained in pakistan anyway that was after the uk invasion of afganistan.

do try to have some truth in what you say. Numpty"

LOL! you used the word numpty.

So who do you think give the order to suicide bomb London? After all it was not Pakistan that was bombed by Nato, it was the Taliban in Afghanistan. So why did these suicide bomber have to blow themselves up for Afghanistan? I bet someone living in the caves gave the order. Therefore, the only way is to go to the mountain to look for them.

Ts! Ts! Ts!

🙄

From a western point of view the yanks got the glory but not as far as the Afghans were concerned – the NA got the glory of walking into Kabul etc and telling the newly free locals that they scared the taliban away and had the USAF under its direct command. (Edit: obviously things have changed a bit since then) In much the same way as the French army got to liberate Paris, and the Kuwaiti army got to liberate Kuwait City. Most of the hard work had been done by other people and they got to do the marching, waving and looking brave bit. Yes they played a part but in all 3 cases the so called "liberators" actually provided a negligible amount of the total combat power involved in the liberation.

As for the stats of casualty figures – all that proves is that they lost more people, not how much they contributed. Possibly due to the fact it was played at home.

Anyway, it's past my bedtime so I'll agree to disagree again!