News that the 100th British soldier has died in action in Afghanistan this year, once again turns the spotlight on a conflict that seems destined to continue into eternity.
The British public are fast running out of patience with the Labour Government and their clear lack of any strategy for either bringing peace to the region or pulling troops out. The ever changing story emerging from Downing Street as to the reasons behind our presence in Afghanistan – from rooting out Al Qaeda, through to eliminating the opium trade and ‘liberating’ the Afghan people – has been as flawed as the equipment provided to the brave soldiers sent there to their deaths.
The British and American Governments will never achieve ‘victory’ against the Taliban or bring long lasting change to the region. Attempting to impose a form of Western democracy on a country that for thousands of years has had tribal beliefs and values at its core, was always destined for failure.
It came as no surprise to many when the one ‘success’ story heralded by the British and American Governments after 8 years of occupation in fact turned out to be nothing but another stained chapter in this ongoing saga. News that western backed President Hamid Karzai bribed his way to victory at the election showed he had more in common with the hordes of expenses grabbing MPs in the British Parliament, than with his own people who have suffered for so long.