Lions led by donkeys

Perhaps it is an indication of how emotionally frozen we have become in this age of immorality and mayhem that we are rarely moved by the things we see in newspapers. Even the most sensitive individuals, it seems, become desensitized to continual barrages of appalling news.


And so it was a noteworthy event for me when, some days ago, a picture in one of the tabloids really shocked and unsettled me. It was a double-page spread of thumbnail photographs: portraits of happy, healthy, handsome young men, each one apparently in the prime of life. Except that they were no longer in the prime of life because, as the accompanying headline announced, these were the images of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

In my ignorance, I had not realized that more than 200 had died during the eight years of conflict in that godforsaken land, and that hundreds more British servicemen and women had been seriously injured. My disquiet at the awful loss denoted by these numbers turned to anger when I read in another newspaper of a threatened revolt by politicians against the loss of perks and bonuses that they have enjoyed for many years at public expense. Squealing like pigs at the removal of a bottomless trough, they were some of the very same MPs whose penny-pinching attitude to the military had sent many of our soldiers into Helmand Province ill-equipped and under-protected.

The juxtaposition of the two stories seemed to me perfectly to encapsulate the deep cynicism at the core of British politics. Whilst the cream of British youth daily face the most terrible dangers, not knowing if the next bullet or roadside bomb will have their name on it, our hard-done-by politicians whine and moan at a supposed assault on their dignity. Nothing, it seems, is further from their minds than the plight of service personnel, or the problem of Afghanistan, whose political resolution is the only thing that will enable the troops to return home for good.

The gunning down earlier this week of five British soldiers at Nad-e-Ali, by a Taliban infiltrator in the Afghan police, brought the number of British fatalities since the start of the conflict to 229, and generated a wave of public concern.

The stark fact that must now be acknowledged is that the majority of people in Britain (and probably in America and other coalition nations) believe that the Afghan operation is doomed. They believe that coalition forces, like the Soviet army in the 1980s, will sooner or later find war in Afghanistan to be futile: because for every Taliban fighter eliminated, there are 100 battle-hungry jihadis ready to take his place; and because even if all of the insurgents in Afghanistan were to be killed or captured tomorrow, their places would quickly be filled by fanatics from Pakistan, Uzbekistan or Chechnya, from Arab countries, or from Islamic ghettoes in western Europe.

A new survey by Channel 4/YouGov shows that 57% of the UK public now believe victory in Afghanistan to be impossible, that 35% favour the immediate withdrawal of British troops, whilst 73% want the majority of troops withdrawn within 12 months.

These percentages are growing, and it is no coincidence that influential figures across the political spectrum are now hinting, sometimes openly declaring, that the war in Afghanistan is unwinnable.

Conservative leader David Cameron said at his recent party conference: "We cannot spend another eight years taking ground only to give it back again".

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said that the British mission lacks a workable plan and is "in trouble".

Former Foreign Office minister Kim Howells has asserted that money spent in Afghanistan would be better spent on strengthening anti-terror operations at home.

Even Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. Commander over there, has admitted that the "very aggressive" Taliban have gained the upper hand.

This week, Gordon Brown told military top brass that Britain "cannot, must not and will not walk away" from Afghanistan. But he also said, "I am not prepared to put the lives of British men and women in harm's way for a government that does not stand up against corruption", knowing full well that corruption in that part of the world is endemic and probably ineradicable.

Mr Brown signalled to Afghan president Hamid Karzai that continuing international support is conditional on the attainment of five "goals" on security, governance and development, though he surely knows that those goals are unachievable in such a lawless and chaotic country.

All of which leads me to think that the Labour government has quietly decided to withdraw all 9,000 British troops, and that their focus now is on finding a way to do so without losing face, and without upsetting the Americans too much.

That is no easy task, and it will take time for Brown & co to devise and deliver a face-saving exit strategy. Meanwhile, British servicemen and women on the ground will still be in mortal danger.

In other words (if my analysis is correct) there is a likelihood of British troops being killed or injured in the coming months for no other reason than to spare government ministers from political embarrassment. This is what I mean when I refer to the deep cynicism at the core of British politics.
Remembrance Sunday this year falls on 8th November. It is the official anniversary of the ending of the First World War, the "War to End All Wars" of 1914-18. Yesterday, I bought a red paper poppy to wear in tribute to those who gave their lives.

The First World War is remembered mainly for the courage of the "Poor Bloody Infantry" amidst appalling carnage, and for the criminal vanity and stupidity of political and military leaders, which gave birth to the expression "Lions led by donkeys" (attributed to the German general Max Hoffmann).

I anticipate that the present conflict in Afghanistan will be remembered for similar reasons, but especially for the cynical negligence of the political class, who seem to have learned nothing in almost a century.

Therefore on Sunday, let us remember the patriotic young men who have given everything on the battlefields of Afghanistan. Let us remember also the young widows, and the wives of the physically injured or psychologically scarred, who face a lifetime of hardship. Let us remember the little ones who have lost their fathers, and the parents who have lost their sons. Most of all, let us renew our collective determination to bring an end to this conflict.

I leave you with the following extract from Siegfried Sassoon's Declaration against the War, written in July 1917:

"I believe that this War, on which I entered as a war of defence and liberation, has now become a war of aggression and conquest. I believe that the purpose for which I and my fellow soldiers entered upon this war should have been so clearly stated as to have made it impossible to change them, and that, had this been done, the objects which actuated us would now be attainable by negotiation. I have seen and endured the sufferings of the troops, and I can no longer be a party to prolong these sufferings for ends which I believe to be evil and unjust. I am not protesting against the conduct of the war, but against the political errors and insincerities for which the fighting men are being sacrificed. On behalf of those who are suffering now I make this protest against the deception which is being practised on them; also I believe that I may help to destroy the callous complacency with which the majority of those at home regard the contrivance of agonies which they do not, and which they have not sufficient imagination to realize".