HMForces.co.uk

www.hmforces.co.uk/news/articles/2971-bring-our-troops-home

 whitey14uk is right. No war is pretty, and no war is won on the grounds of giving in when the going gets tough.

 I'm no warfare expert or anything like it but I personally just feel that those who have died would very very sadly have died for nothing if  we "give up" and pull out.

PaddyQ says ...

With such a large number of professional troops and arsenals of firepower, can someone please try to explain to me why the Taliban continue to gain the upper hand.

Surely the strategy has got to be suspect.

 

The Taliban claim they have the upperhand? Is this the same way that Saddam claimed he was laying waste to our forces in Gulf war 2? We are fighting  an invisable enemy who are well equipped, are well trained, well disciplined and fight with guerilla warfare. This was never going to be quick or easy.

PaddyQ says ...

With 4 British and 8 American troops killied within the past 2 days is proof enough that the Taliban have got the upper hand.

I have to disagree with this mate. This statistic is based on Coalition fatalities over a two day period, we dont know how many fatalities the Taliban have suffered over the same period. That said, we cant base the overall picture on these statistics, the main battle is much more complex and also comprises of the war of hearts and minds which we are slowly but surely winning.

Well said Dreme, I really dont agree with the comment of the Taliban have the upper hand because theyve killed a few of our guys.

We have probably killed a lot more of them than they have of us. The fighting is different in Afghan which is why even with our technology its a hard battle. Its like WW2, the Germans had different techniques of fighting that we thought were pretty hard, but we overcame them, got the rounds down and kicked some arse! Thats what Great Britain is all about!

I think with the intelligence that we have, the fighting spirit of our Armed Forces, we will win this war.

(Im in the mood for an Ex now! )

Heres a quote for you anyway...

"Im gunna kick ass and chew bubblegum, but Im all outta gum!"

Anyone know that quote? (Heehee, love it!)

Does anyone really believe its as simple as kill ratio's?

This conflict isn't just about death, its about public trust, rebuilding a country, economy and government, cutting the tide of drugs pouring out of Afghan.

To me 'Hearts and Minds' is a bit of a bull term primaily coined by the media but the idea behind it is true and goes much deeper.

lol @ Dreme!

Its Duke Nukem (an old game), legendary too!

NobbyHall says ...

I am wavering on whether we should pull the troops out of Afghanistan, i understand the "it will all have been for nothing" view held by alot of people on this website but this is coming from people who have served and know what a good job our services do in some pretty hostile conditions. When it comes to winning hearts and minds i just believe that these people have such a different culture and way of life to us that what we believe is right and wrong does not neccessarily apply to them. One of my main gripes on this is i do not think that the media help our cause much in this conflict as we only ever seem to hear bad news, maybe they should show more of the good work that is being done over there to help the people. It is pleasing to see the public support remains strong for our armed troops out there although i do fear that this may diminish over time as the conflict becomes routine to them. I just having this nagging doubt that the loss of so many of our guys out there is not worth it in order to rebuild a Afghanistan that when we do pull out it will probably return to how it was. But whilst they are out there they deserve the full support of the country and in particular our political masters in ensuring they have everything they need irrespective of any cost involved.

I would just like to pick up on one thing you said there and that was about the media. Unfortunately doom and gloom sells newspapers and attracts viewers, constant reports of our troops building schools, new roads and bridges doesnt. At the end of the day the media are out to make a profit so get used to more doom and gloom! If anyone is interested in the excellent "hearts and minds" work our troops do out in Afghanistan then I would suggest you visit the MOD website where there are numerous such reports!

http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/Home/

if we pull out, more lives are lost... but not in afghanistan or iraq, but the uk and america. they will simply bring the war to us. this is just my  opinion, take it as you find it, i can't help that :) matt- norwich

matty11481 says ...

if we pull out, more lives are lost... but not in afghanistan or iraq, but the uk and america. they will simply bring the war to us. this is just my  opinion, take it as you find it, i can't help that :) matt- norwich

matt that wot you said here was exactly what i was going to say... if we do not battle in afgan/iraq takeing out all the bomb factory's and taliban cell's in afgan it will defenatly tkae the war to the kingdom of british soil

not trying to sound racist with the amount of forigen national's in the UK it wouldnt be hard for the taliban to infiltrate our land's so if we dont fight the war over there then im sorry to say the attack's in the UK would subfold in easierly double figures!!! so the soldier's like myself boot's on the ground in afganistan is the ONLY way to fight this war and yes we shall be in there for meny year's to come and the nato troop's will take losses but the taliban are takeing mulipule's of 10 time's more then ISAF troop's are takeing on death's and injury's our training is proveing this !!!!!

PJ957248 says ...

I don't believe that we should have been involved in the first place.

Why not?

this is no win topic.after reading all the posts on this you can not fault eney of the replys.my view is we stay there till the job is done

Do you all honestly belive we will win in afgan as soon as we pull out the taliban will move in again and we will do one day. Its a corruped country,I don't believe we should be there can anyone tell me why were there. I served in Northen Ireland in the 70s that was on are doorstep,so i could understand us being there it took us over 30 years to sort it (it looks like starting up again) So this could go on for the same lengh of time . I say pull them out