By IRNA,
London : Britain is “seriously screwed” in the Afghan war as it has no “strategic rationale” and is being pursued for purely “political purposes”, a British expert says.
Christopher Coker, professor of international relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), said on Wednesday that Britain and the United Stets are losing the war in Afghanistan.
“We have lost two wars. The war in Basra was a major loss and we are losing the Helmand [war],” he said in a debate on Afghanistan at the University of Westminster.
Referring to the increasing casualties of the war in Afghanistan for foreign troops and Afghan civilians, Coker criticised the British government for “under-equipping” soldiers and “lying to the public opinion”.
“Far more UK soldiers are dying. We have lied to both our troops and people. We spin the results of the war for the public opinion. The people of Afghanistan, who in the past hated the British, now tend to despise them,” he said, adding that international troops went to Afghanistan in 2001 to remove the Taleban but have remained there for nine years with the Taleban still empowering strongholds.
Coker said the Afghan war now has no “strategic rationale” and is being pursued by Americans and the British for purely “political purposes”.
“It is now the war of [Barack] Obama and not ours…the US mission in Afghanistan is different than that of NATO because Americans do regime change in the name of state and nation building,” he said when asked about the role of NATO.
Asked about Obama’s strategy in Afghanistan, he said the US president has lost its credibility among the people for failing to deal with the Afghan war.
“Obama can’t be honest with Americans because he’s been boxed-in. We have made this war and we have to finish it. We have to get out of Afghanistan in a way that does not endanger security in the region.”
Also speaking in the debate, Mehdi Hassan the editor of the “NewStatesman”, described the war in Afghanistan as a “tragedy” saying the nature of this continued war has now changed.
“This is a totally different war in Afghanistan. This is no more about al-Qaeda and September 11 attacks…The present war in Afghanistan is not about the protection of Afghans and Pakistanis,” Hassan said.
Hassan added that the war costs 65 billion dollars a year for Americans and four billion pounds a year for Britain, calling for an immediate withdrawal of troops from an “unjust and unwinnable” war.