Labour admits: we made mistakes on Afghanistan

Apparently Des Browne, the British defence secretary, plans to admit today that Britain and its Nato allies seriously underestimated the strength of the Taliban and the violent resistance faced by western forces in Afghanistan.

"The Taliban's tenacity in the face of massive losses has been a surprise, absorbing more of our effort than predicted and consequently slowing progress on reconstruction," he will say in a speech to the Royal United Services Institute in London.

Though he says it was expected that the Taliban would fight hard, he will add: "We do have to accept that it's been even harder than we expected."

I am always fairly staggered when I read this stuff. I mean, does anyone in Downing Street have any sense of history? Surely there are people in the Foreign Office who brief them before they engage in conflicts of this kind who would have described our last two bruising encounters in that land when the Brits were sent scuttling home? No?

Okay, well perhaps - to move to more recent historical events - they at least took them through the Russian experience of trying to hold on to Afghanistan? One begins to think not.

However, leaving aside his shock that Afghans make good fighters, the most illuminating thing Mr Browne is going to say today is his definition of success. He plans to say:

"Success won't be what we understand by security and prosperity and proper governance, but it will be progress and it will be massively worth achieving."

I'll repeat the best bit: Success won't be what we understand by security and prosperity and proper governance.

In other words, success will look like chaos. But it's okay, because we will know it's success. However, even this extremely limited form of "success" is, as Mr Browne admits, "some way off".

The speech comes amid a wave of violence in Afghanistan and concern over the scale and nature of the mission. Nineteen British soldiers have been killed in southern Afghanistan this month.

Yesterday there were further signs of escalating bloodshed with three separate suicide attacks. In Kandahar, four Canadian troops were killed and at least 27 other civilians wounded, most of them children, according to Afghan police who said the troops were handing out notebooks and pens to children.

Another suicide attacker blew up his bomb-packed car in the Afghan capital, Kabul, killing four policemen. In the normally peaceful city of Herat, 11 people were killed, the province's governor said. The blast was caused by a suicide bomber on a motorcycle; the province's deputy police chief was among 18 wounded.

With the US and the UK seeking to bolster the Afghan mission, Mr Browne is expected to reflect concerns expressed by military chiefs by reminding Britain's Nato partners of their commitments to send more troops to southern Afghanistan. The message is that they, too, must realise that Afghanistan had to be "a success", a defence official said last night.

You will remember that Blair and Bush's recent calls for Nato members to join them in Afghanistan produced zero volunteers.

When one listens to Browne describing the great military victory that awaits them, their reticence becomes somewhat understandable.

Click title for full article.

Tags: Afghanistan, Blair, war on terror, Nato, Taliban,