10:26am Wednesday 8th July 2009
THE day will come, sooner or later, when it will dawn on the leaders of the countries invading and occupying Afghanistan that they should remove their armed forces from that country.
Until that day comes, spurious justifications will be offered for trying to bend the people there to ideas alien to them.
British forces are involved, and I presume that their commanders are convinced that they are leading their troops in a conflict which is justified.
I think that many ordinary soldiers are there because for their own personal reasons they have volunteered to join one of the armed services and I presume that they are told that although they are thousands of miles from home in another country they are, nevertheless, defending our own country.
What we will see unfolding is more men killed and badly injured. It seems that it could go on happening for quite a while yet. I see it as a great tragedy, but human nature being what it is, it appears to be unavoidable.
After all, nobody has the right to bend the people of a country to the will of a powerful invader.
All talk of winning hearts and minds is pure window dressing.
Geoffrey Bulmer, Billingham
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