Nato's Afghanistan decision shatters implausible claims of progress

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/18/nato-afghanistan-shatter-claims-progress


The Nato decision is likely to have a real impact on the morale of British troops. Photograph: Si Ethell/EPA

For months, if not years, Britain's defence chiefs have made it clear they are desperate to get out of Afghanistan. They have clung to the increasingly implausible claim that training and mentoring Afghan security forces was going well, indeed better than expected.

That claim has been shattered by Nato's decision, taken at the behest of the US, to suspend joint Nato-Afghan ground operations. The decision strikes at the heart of Nato and British strategy.

Worse, as far as Philip Hammond, the defence secretary, is concerned, officials have made it clear that the decision came as a complete surprise to him and his military commanders. Only on Monday, Hammond, summoned to the Commons to answer an urgent question, told MPs that the latest wave of "insider" or "green on blue" attacks by Afghans could not derail progress.

He made no mention of the possibility of a decision to scale down joint operations with Afghan forces, even when such a possibility was raised specifically by the Conservative MP and former commander in Bosnia, Bob Stewart.