President Obama has at last ordered a troop surge. In the coming days we must keep focused on why more British and American young lives are being put at risk in Afghanistan.
In doing so, we will strip out some of the original objectives of the invasion eight years ago. It surely isn’t our business to attempt to maintain a government in Kabul that decrees that women do not have to wear the hijab or that young girls should go to school. These are goals that we have yet to achieve in Britain.
While it is highly desirable that young women are free to dress as they wish and that they and young men should be at school, it courts disaster to make such objectives war aims. Likewise we need to be just as hard-headed about fraud.
Much is made of the corruption endemic in President Karzai’s Government. But it is a corruption that Britain and America feed by channelling most aid through a Government whose centrality is anathema to Afghan traditions.
The British and American publics must lay down three benchmarks against which to judge their governments’ strategy. The first is a clear commitment to operate a counter-insurgency strategy. Areas would be taken only if they can be held long term. Once held, aid and development must follow quickly. This strategy must take priority over all other goals. It may be desirable that Afghanistan ceases to be the world centre for poppy production, but beating insurgency takes priority.
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Next the counter-insurgency strategy must work with the grain of Afghan life. This is a tribal society, not one awaiting national institutions. Building a national security force will not be acceptable to the Pashtuns. At some stage security must be delegated back on to a regional basis. Mr Karzai’s national forces are seen as much as an invading force by the Pashtuns as American and British troops.
The third benchmark is to understand that on no account will Pakistan allow an Afghan Government to adopt a pro-India line. A commitment on this front would do more to strengthen the hand of the Pakistani Government in fighting in the tribal territories, and in bringing its security forces on side, than any amount of lecturing from our Prime Minister.
These three clear war aims need to be regularly debated in our Parliament. Now that we have once again committed ourselves fully to support the US strategy with British lives, it is time that Parliament insisted on regularly holding the Government accountable to a clear set of war aims.
Frank Field, the Labour MP for Birkenhead, blogs at frankfield.co.uk