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Army chief: Security, not Afghan vote, was priority
Nicholas Cecil, Deputy Political Editor27 Aug 2009
British soldiers are not dying in vain in Afghanistan, a military chief said today.
Lieutenant Colonel Nick Richardson spoke out after the Standard revealed that as few as 150 people may have voted in an area where British forces suffered heavy losses driving out the Taliban.
Ten UK soldiers died in Operation Panther's Claw which was carried out before the presidential election last Thursday.
Lt-Col Richardson, British spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said: “The success of Operation Panther's Claw is measured by the fact that we have brought security and not by the numbers that have voted. We were not necessarily expecting large numbers to vote.”
He denied morale of troops had been hit by the reports of low turnout in the poll and said people in the UK should be “very proud” of what British forces were achieving.
Britain's ambassador in Kabul Mark Sedwill has not denied that election turnout may have been as low as 150 in the Babaji area of Helmand.
Hazel Hunt, whose son Richard, 21, was the 200th British serviceman killed in Afghanistan and who was being buried today, said she was “horrified” by the reported poor turnout. “The figures reflect terribly on our strategy,” she said.
Lord Guthrie, former chief of the Defence Staff, today attacked ministers, the Ministry of Defence and the Civil Service over the running of the conflict.
“Britain is at war, but one would never know it walking around Whitehall. For too many politicians it is merely another day of awkward things happening in far away places,” he told The Times.
“The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan appear no more than inconvenient blips.”
He branded the MoD an “unwieldy edifice” and accused ministers of having “private empires”.
Reader views (9)
You cannot impose democracy. It has to well up in the indigenous population as it did in the UK, France and other Western countries. It then becomes a habit. Left alone Afghanistan wouldn't be a threat to us but now we have let in so many people from Afghanistan and Pakistan that we have got all the threats we need here, as the London bombings demonstrated. What a poisoned chalice to pass on to our descendants.
- Fred, Horsham, 28/08/2009 08:23
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Given there was no form of democracy there before, that is not bad going. Besides this is not about the state of democracy/freedom in Afghanistan, that will come later; this is about eradicating a base for extremism.
- Frank, Home Counties, England., 27/08/2009 15:51
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I'm proud of our soldiers and know how professional they are. There is no way that they can alter the situation in Afghanistan as the people do not want change and we cannot be expected to remain there until they decide to become a part of the civilised world.
Leave the Afghanis to sort their own mess out
- Carl, London, 27/08/2009 13:09
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Lord Guthrie is spot on, the government is a joke and hasn't accepted how serious things are.
There is a major Defence & Foreign policy debate taking place next thursday 3rd sept in central London courtesy of UKDNA - all are welcome..
- Ian, London, 27/08/2009 12:58
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It's a dirty stain on the map of the world, eradicate it."
So is Milton Keynes, but you can't go doing things like that
- Keith Price, Luton England, 27/08/2009 12:56
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Can't we just drop an atom bomb on the wretched country and be done with it.
It's a dirty stain on the map of the world, eradicate it.
- P Staker, London, 27/08/2009 12:03
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"They are being culled."
Jimfred, how dare you use a term commonly used for animal-slaughter, to describe the brave selfless actions of our brothers in the British armed forces. It is clear that you would never serve your country as I, and very many others have. Please stop desecrating their lives in this crude and cowardly way
- Keith Price, Luton England, 27/08/2009 11:40
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Yes they are dying in vain.They are being culled.
If they make it back home,jobs?housing?benefits?...all in short supply as the government that sends them off to war,fills the country up with desperate people from all over the world,who will work for slave wages.
Globalisation rules.
- Jimfred, London Uk, 27/08/2009 11:07
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Lt. Col. Richardson obviously has his eye on a future knighthood and promotion. My brother is a soldier in Afghanistan and he, and a lot of his colleagues, think it's a complete waste of time. The locals lives have not improved since he was last there in 2007 and many are sympathetic to (or are part of)the Taliban anyhow. Tackling extremism in this country might prove far more effective in keeping the country safe than the terrible Afghan mission.
- Ab, London, 27/08/2009 10:59
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