War On The Home Front
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Posted
by Sean Meade at
11/4/2009 8:31 AM CST
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Douglas Barrie writes:
A former British Labour government minister is calling into question London's strategy in Afghanistan.
Kim Howells, previously a minister in the Foreign Office from 2005-08, says that most of the UK forces now deployed should be brought back to the UK. Funding saved as a result of this should be used to bolster domestic security and intelligence activities.
Howells, writing in the British daily newspaper "The Guardian" Nov. 4 recognises: "such a shift in focus would have the benefit of exposing far fewer British servicemen and women to the deadly threats of the Taliban... but would also have momentous implications for UK foreign and defense policy".
The former minister is now the chair of the parliamentary intelligence and security committee.
Howells originally supported the deployment of British forces, but believes now that "despite great sacrifice" by the UK, the US and other allies "the opportunity has largely been squandered," partly at least because of the "poverty of leadership" in the Afghan government.
