The chaos of military deadlines

The leaked communiqué, obtained by the Independent on Sunday, stating that British troops will not be fighting in Afghanistan by 2014 has further confused the Afghan war at a time when clarity is necessary.  There are now two deadlines, or aspirations of a withdrawal at any rate. Liam Fox is polluting the airwaves with specious waffle about 2015 being a ‘conservative assessment’, but of course the troops will probably be home earlier, but then again they might not, but then again we don’t really know. Well, Dr Fox, if that’s the case it’s best to say nothing.

Amid this disorder, Andrew Mitchell has announced that aid to Afghanistan will be increased by 40 percent. But if NATO lacks the troops to protect the aid operation and occupy territory, which it does, then many of the new bridges, roads, schools and hospitals will be destroyed, as they were during the last concerted reconstruction effort in 2005-06.