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General's fury at Allied troops 'too hungover for duty' in Afghanistan
Ed Harris08.09.09
Troops in Afghanistan are to be banned from drinking after US military chiefs found soldiers reporting for duty either drunk or too hungover to work.
It comes after claims that too many soldiers and staff had been “partying it up”, it is reported.
Some were said to have been reprimanded for not “having their heads in the right place”.
It follows a row after an airstrike ordered by German forces and carried out by a US jet killed more than 100 people, most of them civilians, last week in Kunduz provine.
General Stanley McChrystal, head of International Forces in Afghanistan was said to be furious that he could not get hold of the people he needed to contact that day.
He “blamed it on late-night partying”, a military source said.
The main military HQ in Kabul has seven bars that serve tax-free beer and wine.
An insider told The Times: “Thursday nights are the big party nights, because Friday's a low-ops' day. They even open a bar in the garden at headquarters. There's a two can' rule but people ignore it and hit it pretty hard.”
The problem became so severe that military police started breathalysing drivers and pedestrians around the base.
British troops are allowed to drink only at official functions, with special permission. Soldiers from the rest of the 42-nation alliance are governed by a variety of guidelines.
At least two people were killed and six injured today when a suicide car bomber rammed into a Nato convoy near the entrance to Kabul's military airport.
The huge blast, which was felt in the capital a mile away, destroyed three Landcruisers. The Taliban claimed responsibility.
Reader views (3)
"It follows a row after an airstrike ordered by German forces and carried out by a US jet killed more than 100 people, most of them civilians, last week in Kunduz provine."
So, the target was identified by the Germans (presumably on the ground?) and the attack was carried out by the US airforce. They were on target weren't they?
That means that they were either vectored wrongly by the Germans (which makes the implications that the airmen were too hung-over to fly being the reason for the deaths rather misleading) or they hit the wrong target. Neither appears to be the case - ergo, the insinuation is a slander against good people in a dirty war where the bad guys hide amongst the innocent.
From API: "Afghan government sources say that the number of casualties of the attack totals between 60 and 90, including 56 Taliban. The Taliban claim that 150 people were killed, none of them members of the Taliban." (Yep, the AK's and RPGs were just personal knickknacks, and oh yeah, the Taliban are known for their honesty in their dealings with the 'infidel crusaders')
- Rogan, Irving
The stupids in command...can quiet easily say NO MORE. Booze and liquor will not be drunk while in active duty zone....That means the whole of Aphganistan.....end of.
- Themanoftruth, United Kingdom
I thought alcohol would be completely banned except for off-base R & R interludes. -How can anyone possibly allow the influence of alcohol to be a factor in life and death situations? -As even military H.Q. must be considered a possible target.
- Huggy, Cumbernauld Scotland
