British troops feel an understandable hatred when you say this. They’re experiencing record casualties and have done a remarkable job in one of the worst provinces in Afghanistan for five years.
But there’s no getting away from it: they simply can’t do what the Americans can, and they know it.
Today 4,000 Marines are doing what the British have not done for the last few years: pushing deep and forcefully into Taliban territory in Helmand.
It’s not their numbers that make the difference really, but what comes with them. The Americans have the “toys” – the helicopters, the armour, the firepower.
So far their push south into the Helmand valley (I say south – it’s not entirely clear where they’re heading yet, but south would make sense) has met with not that much resistance.
When the Taliban see that coming, they get out of the way. They’ll prefer to take pot-shots at over the next few months.
This doesn’t mean the Americans, with such a mass of explosives, and at times testosterone (although the US Marines are a sensitive bunch), will necessarily do a better job keeping the peace there. But they can push where Britain could not.
I recall talking to a hardworking, stretched and brave British officer in Helmand recently. I asked him if he was ashamed the British were still using the Snatch Land Rover – a lightly covered Jeep that’s been an easy target for Taliban bombs and has permitted many deaths.
He launched into a passionate defence about how they were light and actually better suited to urban environments. Later I pressed him, and he said: “It’s career suicide to talk out of line here”.
Britain makes do. It does war on the cheap. It borrowed, for example, six Chinooks from the Americans for its recent trumpeted Operation Panther’s Claw, according to one report. It doesn’t have the money the Americans do, but has the ambition.
We want to say we can, and that we did, when sometimes that simply wasn’t the case.
In Helmand, that’s meant that the past two years have seen us slowly walk a careful line between what’s diplomatically called stalemate, and looming failure.
American forces begin a huge offensive today that is aimed at turning that dynamic around. What they will soon find out is whether the ground they re-take has been abandoned by NATO too long for the people to want foreign troops back.
Commentsoldest first
When those in the British Armed Forces dare not speak the truth for fear of reprisals and, to have to consider diplomatic/political considerations before first opening their mouth to convey reality, just epitomises the corruption & control of the Ministry Of Defence & the British Government. (nothing new there then)
This quagmire needs other approaches other than millitary, because for every person that gets killed, it just causes further hatreds & revenge intentions.
[...] Here is the original post: Snowblog – The US has the firepower, but what then for Afghanistan? [...]
In the long run it doesn’t matter what the UK or US does…The history of most counter insurgency conflicts has revealed it comes down to what the host population wants and does. America should have learned this in Vietnam and the UK in Ulster.
NATO could be fighting in Afghanistan for years to come, as long as we have the will and the money, without lasting results unless the population gets in back of the troops and is willing to maintain the security and freedom of their own nation.
Even with their superior firepower the Americans are unlikely to have more success than the British. Though they will probably have fewer casualties. The Russians had superior fire power and were there for twenty years. They still packed up and went home in the end. It’s a war of attrition. Its not about who has the biggest guns. NATO don’t want to be there and the Taliban have no where else to go. They will play the waiting game and pick their battles. As has been said before there is no clear plan for Afghanistan. They are going to be policing it for decades.
The British Military are not the best equipped in the world. Something that should have been addressed a long time ago. And I’m going to play devils advocate here and say its their own fault. The American Military have always admired the British Military’s ability to make do and mobilise at short notice. They on the other hand won’t go anywhere unless the have the right equipment for the job. The British army have a can do attitude which is really a make do attitude. It has done them no favours and perhaps if the top brass had more of a can’t do attitude there might not have been as many casualties and more success.
[...] go from his post, discusses the current state of journalism and raises some interesting questions. The US has the firepower, but what then for Afghanistan? – Channel 4’s Nick Paton Walsh provides some interesting insight into the reality of military [...]
At last! Nick Clegg has come out and said it. We need more troops and the only reason they aren’t in Afghanistan already is down to politics. Either provide the necessary man power (at least 2,000 more troops) and equipment; or pull out. Simple as that.
Leave a comment
* Required field.