The Spectator

Letters | 29 August 2009

Spectator readers respond to recent articles

issue 29 August 2009

The Afghan toll

Sir: Jonathan Foreman’s article (‘Britain’s forgotten casualties’, 22 August) highlights how the focus on the death toll in Afghanistan eclipses a much wider human and economic cost arising from those many seriously injured soldiers who will require help for the rest of their lives. If you include those who are subsequently affected, often long after their service, by mental health problems arising from what they have endured, the human and economic costs are even greater.

However, while it is clear that the government needs to ensure that it responds effectively to this legacy arising from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, it should not be assumed that those soldiers are abandoned at the point where state provision ends.

In addition to the great work done by Help for Heroes and the other military charities, the regiments and corps of the army play an active role in supporting individual soldiers and their dependents who need help.

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