A surge that must work (From The Northern Echo)

A surge that must work

11:40am Tuesday 1st December 2009 in Comment

IT is our greatest Christmas wish that our political leaders would be in a position to announce that the mission in Afghanistan had been completed successfully, that the threat of terrorism had been contained, and that British troops were coming home.

Sadly, the mission has not been completed and, instead of bringing our soldiers home, Gordon Brown yesterday confirmed that he will send 500 more troops to the war zone.

We supported his plan to do so on condition that the troops were not sent to Afghanistan with inadequate equipment and that other Nato countries shared the burden.

We now take the Prime Minister’s word that the conditions have been met and that the extra manpower will enable Afghan forces to be properly trained so that they can begin to take control of their own destiny as early as next year.

This is the political and military surge that is needed to accelerate the exit-strategy that we all want to be realised as soon as possible.

Tory leader David Cameron has warned against setting a timetable for a handover to Afghan forces and a withdrawal of British troops.

We share his concern that any suggestion that this is the last throw of the dice will simply serve to encourage the Taliban to dig in and create false hope at home.

But the clear reality is that the war in Afghanistan cannot go on indefinitely.

We welcome the increase in manpower but, if throwing more troops at the problem doesn’t work, it is hard to see any political leader – David Cameron included – being able to justify an ever-increasing death toll in Afghanistan.