Afghanistan continues to morph into “Chaosistan“. The Ministry of Defence confirms that another four soldiers were killed in Helmand in a road accident on Wednesday evening, taking the British military death toll since 2001 to 307.
Meanwhile, Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, Britain’s special envoy to Afghanistan, “known for his scepticism about the western war effort and his support for peace talks with the Taliban”, has stepped down from his post and gone on “extended leave”, only a month before a critical international conference in Kabul.
And the Americans, even before their commander-in-chief sacked their top commander on the ground, ain’t doing so well, either. As Sahil Kapur writes over at Comment Is Free:
This month, Afghanistan became America’s longest-ever war, and the US death toll crossed 1,000. June is also set to be the deadliest month for Nato forces since the war began in 2001. Last year was its deadliest, and this year is on pace to set a new record. President Hamid Karzai’s top advisers say he’s lost faith in the coalition and even his own government to turn things around. His perceived illegitimacy after last autumn’s disputed election diminishes his clout.
Far from quelling the bleeding, the situation has further deteriorated since the Obama administration’s troop surge this year. The recent offensive to oust the Taliban from the stronghold of Marjah was a disaster — McChrystal himself called it a “bleeding ulcer”. Critical operations in Kandahar have been postponed. And in case all this isn’t bad enough, Afghan private contractors are using US taxpayer money to bribe Taliban militants to fuel the violence, the New York Times reports.
So forgive me if I don’t get all teary and misty-eyed over the enforced departure of General Stanley “Badass” McChrystal. As the US media critic and anti-war activist Norman Solomon notes: “When the wheels are coming off, it doesn’t do much good to change the driver.” He adds: “The latest events reflect unwritten rules for top military commanders: Escalating a terrible war is fine. Just don’t say anything mean about your boss.”
The furore over Team McChrystal’s rather ill-advised, if not plain stupid, remarks to Rolling Stone magazine about Vice-President Joe Biden (“Who’s that?”), the national security adviser, James Jones (a “clown”), and President Obama himself (“uncomfortable and intimidated”) has distracted the press and public from an important revelation in the piece itself.
Team McChrystal — or “Team America”, as they call themselves — don’t think the war is going too well.
A senior adviser is quoted as saying the war is going worse than the politicians and the public realise:
If Americans pulled back and started paying attention to this war, it would become even less popular.
And Major General Bill Mayville, McChrystal’s chief of operations, tells Rolling Stone’s Michael Hastings:
It’s not going to look like a win, smell like a win or taste like a win . . . This is going to end in an argument.
Great news. Tell that to the parents and partners of the four British soldiers who died yesterday evening. Or to the thousands of Afghan civilians killed in Nato-led air strikes, bombings and shootings at checkpoints. (“We’ve shot an amazing number of people and killed a number and, to my knowledge, none has proven to have been a real threat to the force,” admitted McChrystal in March.) They all died for “an argument”.
The Runaway General may indeed be gone. But this pointless, runaway war is still going.
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