UK troops 'to spend 10 years' in Afghanistan

[sabra]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2361496,00.html

UK troops 'to spend 10 years' in Afghanistan

THE commander of the British taskforce in southern Afghanistan said last week that UK troops could be in the country for as long as 10 years.

In his first interview since arriving in Afghanistan, Brigadier Ed Butler said: “I don’t think there’s any doubt we will be here for a considerable time. There will need to be training teams and embedded officers for 10 years or so.”

Butler, commander of 16 Air Assault Brigade, took full responsibility for setting up the “platoon houses” at Sangin and Musa Qala, where 15 British soldiers have died. But he said the decision to send troops into the frontline bases, described by many of his men as “hellholes”, was made “under not inconsiderable pressure” from Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan’s president.

When British troops began arriving in April to take charge of Helmand province, they met immediate Taliban resistance, Butler said. Baghran district centre had been overrun by the Taliban.

[LynnTheDem]

1. And after a decade of death & destruction, nothing wll have changed.

Other than more death & destruction.

[FloridaPat]

2. How long were the Russians there? About 10 years? Sure

am glad that war is over. So really, the only war we've done any good with and maybe actually "won" since WWII was Granada? I wonder how much peace there would be world wide if we didn't have our very expensive military.

[Disturbed]

3. The UK are long time colonizers.

They colonized Iraq for 30 years. India for how many?

[JohnyCanuck]

4. Just as an FYI, the Caribbean island is spelt Grenada

I know many people make that spelling mistake and spell it (and pronounce it) Granada because the name Grenada sounds very similiar to the well known city, Granada, in Spain. However in the English speaking Caribbean, the name is pronounced "Gruhnayduh"

[FloridaPat]

6. Thanks.

[Vidar]

5. Return of the Khyber Rifles.

[DavidDvorkin]

7. Toto, I don't think we're in the 19th Century any more

And not just because Britain is no longer the superpower it was then.

Public attitudes and the political system are both very different in Britain now. I don't think that "ten years" will happen.

[daleo]

8. Some British troops will spend eternity there

Just like thousands of Russian troops did. In the end it won't matter, as all the foreigners will leave. Just my opinion.