Battle for Helmand a ‘terrible disaster’, says MP

Mar 26 2008 by Tomos Livingstone, Western Mail

THE Army’s mission to Helmand province in Afghanistan has been a “terrible disaster” which ranks alongside the Charge of the Light Brigade, a Welsh MP said yesterday.

Paul Flynn, the Labour MP for Newport West, paid tribute to the heroism of UK troops, and said he was not calling for them to be withdrawn from Afghanistan.

But the decision in 2006 to send forces into the lawless Helmand region had been a mistake, Mr Flynn told fellow MPs.

Speaking in Westminster Hall, he said, “This debate is about a terrible disaster in British history, ranking alongside the Charge of the Light Brigade, the Somme and the Dardanelles.”

Since 2001 there have been 89 British troop deaths in Afghanistan, the majority in Helmand. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said he wants to see the current level of deployment – 7,800 British troops – maintained.

Mr Flynn said the situation mirrored the final days of the US troops in Vietnam in the 1970s.

“The comparison with Vietnam is a powerful one, but the problem is we have ministers who don’t read history and haven’t lived through previous wars,” he said.

There had been worthwhile achievements in Afghanistan since the Taliban were removed from power in 2001, he said, notably the improvement in the position of women and some steps towards democracy.

But Nato had been split and Afghan opium production had increased rather than decreased. Helmand alone was producing more illegal drugs than any country in the world, Mr Flynn added.

“We’re going backwards on drug production and backwards on [winning] hearts and minds.

“On what basis are we contin- uing to send young men to die?”