From Peter Anthony Troy.
A SPATE of letters recently in the JEP which refer adversely to the Lieutenant-Governor’s comments on UK forces fighting in Afghanistan appear to have forgotten (if indeed they ever understood) why the Afghan conflict continues and why failure is not an option.
The war in Afghanistan is an ongoing coalition conflict which began on 7 October 2001, in response to the devastating 11 September attacks, a fact that is increasingly omitted from discussions in the media.
The stated aim of the invasion eight years ago was to find Osama bin Laden and other high-ranking Al-Qaeda members, to destroy the whole organisation of Al-Qaeda and thus to remove the Taliban regime which supported and gave safe harbour to Al-Qaeda.
It is not desirable to allow Afghanistan to be dominated by well-resourced terrorists whose well-stated aim and indeed past practice is to mount horrific attacks on innocent people by the thousands in Europe and the US.
The complexities of the current ‘counter-insurgency’ campaign, of which the focus is the people of Afghanistan and to convince them to support their government, is fraught with difficulties; not least a long history of tribal wars. The success of this operation requires the maximum use of both human resources and military equipment.
Rather than being out of step with public opinion His Excellency was correctly pointing out that the security of peace in the world is dependent on the removal of terrorists, which is clearly in the public’s interest. That security cannot be achieved without cost or commitment.
