By KUNA,
London : The head of the British armed forces Monday called for patience over the mission in Afghanistan.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, Chief of the Defence Staff, told the Society of Editors annual conference in Bristol, south west England, that success, particularly in the “ungoverned” borderlands adjoining Pakistan where radical British Muslims receive training in terror tactics, was vital.
“In security terms this ungoverned space is the UK’s front doorstep,” he said. “If you look back from today to where we started, it’s clear that we’ve made considerable progress. But if you then turn that around and look to where we’re aiming, there’s still so far to go it looks as if we’ve come hardly any distance at all.” “That, though, is a reflection of the scale of the enterprise rather than of inadequate progress,” Sir Jock said.
He added “So Afghanistan is going to take patience. We have to be able to judge our progress in the long game without being distracted by the short-term vagaries of tactical fortune.” In the modern 24-hour media, drama and conflict played better than considered reflection and rapid media reporting could accentuate the highs and lows, he went on.
This was not a “ritual complaint from the military about how unhelpful the media is. Believe it or not, a free and questioning media is one of the national interests that we think we’re in business to help protect,” he continued.
“As in most democracies, our own strategic centre of gravity is the willingness of our people, and the governments who represent them, to sustain the necessary level of effort for long enough to achieve success. And as I’ve indicated, that could be a long time,” he pointed out.
Sir Jock said yesterday that he would oppose any request from the US President-elect Barak Obama to transfer British troops to Afghanistan from Iraq when they leave Basra next year.
The head of the British armed forces told BBC TV that a reduction in “operational tempo” was essential for British troops and it was time other countries contributed more in the fight against the insurgency.