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He may not survive the upcoming U.K. election, but Prime Minister Gordon Brown gave a speech today in Parliament arguing against any strategy for Afghanistan that doesn’t prop up Afghan governing capacity:
Our objective is clear and focused; to prevent al Qaeda launching attacks on our streets and threatening legitimate government in Afghanistan and Pakistan. But if we limit ourselves simply to targeting al Qaeda – without building the capacity of Afghanistan and Pakistan to deal with terrorism and violent extremism – the security gains will not endure.
He pledged to send an additional 500 troops to Afghanistan, raising the U.K. force component to 9,500, or a bit less than a tenth of current NATO forces.
Apart from my belief that both the US and the UK are sending troops to the slaughter to fight an unknown enemy without clear objectives about what they actually want to achieve [deep breath], I think Brown would do well to remember just how little support they give to troops when they do return home or to their families when they don’t.