Training | 2009.07.13
This Afghan war is indefensible | Graham Knight
Not all the families of British troops support the war in Afghanistan
My son Ben, who joined the RAF in 2001, always assured us that he\'d be three miles up from the Afghan insurgents, so nothing would get to him. He didn\'t realise that his own side was going to let him down. Ben died three years ago, when the ageing Nimrod spy plane he was flying exploded in mid-air near Kandahar, killing him along with 13 of his colleagues. He was 25 years old.
At home in Somerset, his mother and I heard on the news that a helicopter had come down. When the reports changed to mention a Nimrod, we rang the helpline number. An hour later the doorbell rang. I was in the other room when I heard my wife scream. It feels as if someone has scooped your heart out.
But planes don\'t explode of their own accord. After a months-long battle with the Ministry of Defence and the RAF over the release of documents relating to the catastrophe, an inquest last year finally ruled that the plane had not been airworthy and the that entire fleet should be grounded.
On leave before he went to Afghanistan, Ben confided in his older brother some of his concerns about the deployment. But when his brother asked him if he really believed that British troops should be there, he replied that the Afghan people had been terrorised by the Taliban for years and that he believed they would be freeing them.
I always toed a similar line until very recently. The fact is that the Taliban are Afghans themselves, and we\'ve just gone in there and decided to impose our rules and way of life. You can understand why they end up fighting against that.
The Taliban were not responsible for the Twin Towers; that was al-Qaida. Yes, they allowed them to train in their country, but that was not the problem. Every time another member of the forces dies, and especially over the last week, I very much question whether we should be there, and if we are there. what exit policy we have.
Politicians like to say that the families of British forces in Afghanistan all support their presence there. But I\'m sure that there isn\'t a mother out there who isn\'t worried about her son. And But while some may say they agree with the war, there are plenty who do not. Politicians like to make much of our consent, but there is a groundwell of families who have realised how the government are treating our troops and want them out. Even within the army, senior figures are speaking out against MoD policy.
We went to war in Afghanistan – as well as in Iraq – with eyes shut and purse shut, and in order to make things better we have got to open both of them and give the troops what they need in terms of training and equipment.
I\'ve lost count of the number of times I\'ve heard the phrase "lessons learned". Only this weekend, Bob Ainsworth was talking about sending out new helicopters by the end of year. But we\'re in July! It\'ll be too late by then. The Duke of Wellington once said that the test of a general was to know how to retreat and to dare to do it. This is one lesson that our politicians really need to learn.
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2009/jul/13/afghanistan-army-casualties
