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Time for spinning is gone, now we need a leader with a plan
Robert Fox4 Sep 2009
Gordon Brown is giving powerful hints today that he wants to start bringing the troops home from Afghanistan next year.
But don't hold your breath, it's not going to happen soon. The way things are going on the ground in Afghanistan, British and American forces will be holding the line long after Gordon Brown, and very possibly Barack Obama, have left office.
The developing row over the bombing of the gas tankers in Kunduz underlines how difficult it is to fight the Taliban and avoid hurting civilians.
The Taliban know they have to fight among civilians as their shield and protection.
Not for nothing are they masters of the new black arts of the war among the people.
Things are not going well on the ground in Afghanistan, as the most senior American commanders admit with a refreshing candour sadly missing at Westminster.
They are worried about the growing strength of the Taliban as American's most senior serving officer, Admiral Michael Mullen, has said openly and repeatedly.
They are faced with the growing embarrassment of the presidential and provincial elections of last month, which threaten to return Hamid Karzai to power on a bogus mandate.
Any hope of progress and an exit strategy from Afghanistan for Brown and Britain depends on a huge threefold gamble.
First the allies have to believe they are able to hand over to a credible Afghan government run by Hamid Karzai or his successors.
Secondly, they have to build up sufficient and capable Afghan army and police forces to guarantee security for the foreseeable future.
Finally, they will have to win over enough Taliban forces to make a future Afghanistan secure and viable.
Each one of those is a tall order. But the time for spinning has gone — we can thank Eric Joyce for reminding us of that.
Mr Brown or Mr Obama has to sound now like a man with a plan, and not the airy persiflage of high-flown rhetoric.
Reader views (2)
Well said, Albert Hall! I have the same feelings when I read that the scumbags in Parliament EARN such huge sums. They DON'T. They are PAID huge sums, which is nothing like the same as earning them.
- Minority Working Person, London/England, 25/09/2009 11:53
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Lets stop using the work spin. Tops spin. As do windmills and electric motors. Politicians LIE.
- Albert Hall, hove england, 25/09/2009 10:53
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