Cracking On In Helmand -- Stephen Grey, Prospect
Britain’s bloody campaign in Afghanistan has been marred by hubris, confusion and a failure to understand our Taliban adversaries. Finally, some lessons have been learned. But it might already be too late.
A cartoon was on the television but little Lilly grabbed the album and leafed through the photos of her father, the late Sergeant Lee Johnson. I was talking to her mother about his death, which I had witnessed in Afghanistan. When I saw Lilly up in Stockton-on-Tees last November, and I thought of my own young child, I struggled to reconcile my doubts about this war with wanting to remember Johnson’s death as honourable and meaningful.
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British soldiers on a joint foot patrol with US marines in Musa Qala in Helmand province, Afghanistan. Photograph: Omar Sobhani/ReutersSight Of Dead Girl At The Gates Sparked A Bloody Mutiny -- Times Online
Captain Josh Jones is in charge of Forward Operating Base Gibraltar. About 500m south, a platoon of the Afghan National Army is being mentored by eight Royal Irish soldiers. Their compound is known as the Witch’s Hat.
Jones gets a call from the Royal Irish. There is a man at the gates: his wife has been shot in the chest and his daughter, about 12, has been killed. A crowd is building up outside and there is tension between the Irish and their Afghan comrades. The Royal Irish captain is going to bring the family up to FOB Gib for treatment along with the senior Afghan officer.
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My Comment: Stephen Grey's article in the Prospect is a must read. I received (last week) an email from their office a link on this story. It was only this morning (Sunday) that I had a chance to read it.
I wish I read it sooner. It is an excellent and well thought of analysis on the Afghan war.
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