BRITISH troops in the Sangin area of Afghanistan’s Helmand province are to be replaced by US forces, the UK’s Defence Secretary Liam Fox has said in the House of Commons. The army has suffered its heaviest losses in the area, with 99 deaths since 2001.
About 1,000 Royal Marines are expected to leave and be redeployed to central Helmand by the end of 2010, after the British military refused US requests to quit Helmand altogether, and be switched to Kandahar to take part in the projected assault on the Taleban ‘capital’, which, if and when it takes place, will see heavy fighting and very heavy imperialist casualties.
The current British presence in Afghanistan, was preceded by two historic defeats for the British army at the hands of the Afghan tribes. It has also been distinguished by a combination of the grossest imperialist arrogance with the crassest imperialist stupidity.
It was the Labour Defence Secretary, John Reid, who saw off British troops in 2006 doubting that a shot would be fired during their whole period of duty there.
And his insanely arrogant presumption was publicly supported by his military spokesmen, and leading officers.
Millions of rounds later the British army is fleeing from Sangin to safer parts of Helmand, after refusing to serve in Kandahar.
While for the German and French bourgeoisie there is an eternal warning – ‘Never invade Russia’, for the British it should be ‘Never invade Afghanistan!’
Even Churchill warned in his writings that once invaded by a foreign enemy, the warring Afghan tribes stop fighting each other, until the foreigners have been expelled, when they recommence their local quarrels.
This is the lesson of history which the Labour government and its military cadre decided to ignore at their peril, in order to cement the alleged ‘special relationship’ with the United States.
This was after continual warnings that Britain could not cope with the fighting in Iraq, no mind cope with fighting two wars at the same time.
Ignoring this advice, Blair opted for war, and the rout from Basra has been followed by an equally ignominious flight from Sangin, with the ‘special relationship’ with the US capitalists in tatters.
The rout from Sangin is being spun thus by Defence Secretary Fox. He told MPs, UK forces had made ‘good progress’ in Sangin, and the move would enable Britain to provide ‘more manpower and greater focus’ on Helmand’s busy central belt.
The result of the retreat will be the opposite. Afghan fighters will be queuing up to have a go at the British forces, and will be desperate to claim the honour of having driven them out of Afghanistan as did their forebears!
Speaking at prime minister’s questions, David Cameron told MPs this was the ‘key year’ to step up the military and political pressure in the country.
In fact the key to the British retreat from Sangin is that 11 UK soldiers have been killed in the area in two months, including very expensively trained bomb disposal experts, at a time when there are explosive financial and economic issues emerging at home, where the presence of British troops may shortly be required.
One military spokesman said about their new posting in central Helmand that UK forces should not be there in a ‘combat role, or in significant numbers’ in five years time.
Conservative MP and former British army officer Patrick Mercer experienced a rush of blood to the head stating: ‘Any suggestion that British forces are being beaten out of Sangin or returning with their tails between their legs is not just disingenuous, it’s actually disgusting,’
In fact of the 312 UK deaths in Afghanistan since 2001, a third have taken place in Sangin. This is the reality.
In fact the lesson of the Sangin rout is not just that this is a war that UK imperialism cannot win, but that it should get its troops out of Afghanistan while it is still able to do so.
