Afghan mission falls short of expectations: Lawmakers

Source: AFP

Afghan mission falls short of expectations: Lawmakers

By Katherine Haddon (AFP) – 1 hour ago

LONDON — The international military mission in Afghanistan has delivered "much less than it promised" due to the lack of a realistic strategy, an influential committee of lawmakers said Sunday.

In a report, the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee said without a clear strategy stabilising Afghanistan had become "considerably more difficult than might otherwise have been the case."

Lawmakers criticised US policies in Afghanistan and Pakistan and warned the "considerable cultural insensitivity" of some coalition troops had caused serious damage to Afghans' perceptions that will be "difficult to undo".

"We conclude that the international effort in Afghanistan since 2001 has delivered much less than it promised and that its impact has been significantly diluted by the absence of a unified vision and strategy grounded in the realities of Afghanistan's history, culture and politics," the report said.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ju9le4Pg7z1WjWzvY1I_WLNEsycA

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Observer:

Helmand troops let down by 'unrealistic' planning

Gaby Hinsliff and Mark Townsend
The Observer, Sunday 2 August 2009

British soldiers were sent into Helmand province on an ill-defined mission undermined by "unrealistic" planning and lack of manpower, according to a withering Commons report published today, which concludes that the strategic threat has shifted to Pakistan.

After eight years in Afghanistan, the west has failed to live up to many of its grander promises, while "mission creep" has imposed too many competing priorities on the armed forces, according to the Labour-chaired Commons foreign affairs select committee.

Meanwhile, it raises the alarming spectre of al-Qaida, which has shifted its focus into Pakistan, gaining access to Islamabad's nuclear arsenal.

The report concludes that, while the military campaign in Helmand may be gaining traction, Afghan support for the troops has been damaged by civilian casualties and "cultural insensitivity", while there is no evidence the war on drugs has reduced poppy cultivation. A weak, corrupt police force is driving Afghans back to the Taliban to seek justice, it argues, while cultural assumptions about women are barely changed.

The committee's verdict came as the archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, said that the covenant between the state and the armed forces, which dictates that the nation supports those prepared to pay the ultimate price and their families, had "increasingly come under strain in recent months".

Whitehall is braced for the publication this month of a review of the Afghanistan campaign by General Stanley McChrystal, commander of US forces there, which is expected to trigger a fresh debate over troop numbers. Some MPs believe parliament may even be recalled from recess to debate Afghanistan.

<more>

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/aug/02/defence-policy-afghanistan-helmand

We hit the solemn boundaries, can't make it all better, can't make it any better.

On the retreat from Kabul of General Elphinstone's army in 1842, a hill near Gandamak was the scene of the Battle of Gandamak, the massacre of the last survivors of the force: twenty officers and forty-five British soldiers of the 44th East Essex Regiment.

It is also notable for the treaty of Gandamak, which was signed here on May 26, 1879 between the British government and His Highness Muhammad Yakub Khan, Amir of Afghanistan and its dependencies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandamak

Now that I think about it...that same headline could have been written by the PR flack for Alexander The Great, back in the Fourth Century BCE.