DCI Gene Hunt

Well here we go then, a few weeks back is was all "The Taliban are cornered... expect their destruction in the next day or so...." and now, because they are 'dicking us' it's 'let's blame some other ******........ stand up the RAF............

Nuke the feckin lot and get it over with............

turboman786

The truth beginning to come out.....not qwuite the rosy picture the UK were hoping to see......did they not read the history books before they declared they would defeat the taliban swiftly...?

vindaloo

I believe that they are defeating them. Point is though, Taliban won't give up before we do. It's their country, their homeland, their tribal structure, customs that are at stake.

It would be interesting to know which side is initiating contact in these little exchanges of fire that we're hearing about. IMO it's the Taliban most of the time with the odd major foray out by our guys.

British forces have been in afghanistan twice before, in the 19th century.

See http://www.britishbattles.com/

It strikes me that the times we were most effective, the troops were doing things that would be deplored or unacceptable if presented by the media these days. e.g. I don't think we can "win" and then pull out. Best we can hope for is that the regime can be made strong enough that they can contain any unrest within their borders.

J.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Didn't the Afghans defeat the whole Red Army?

Alcazar

555Rob555

Only with huge amounts of aid and weapons from th US.










Backfired a bit now eh?

turboman786

Vindy, dont believ the hype mate...we certainly ARE NOT defeating them....the Russians tried it and left crying...that was the full might of the Soviet war macine v men in shalwar kameez with kalashnikovs and RPGs....

Come on..we have every bit of militray machine available, apache gunship helicopters, F16 fighter, B52 bombers, laser guided missiles, sattelite navigation, Nimrods, heat seeking thermal imaging..you name it, we have it...

The Taliban have machine guns, and RPGs...

Anyone read the story of David and Goliath?

Brit_in_Japan

On the news it read further excerpts from that email from a 3 Para commander, he was moaning about some close air support which was off the mark, nearly taking out his own men. Hard to say if it was just a one-off error, incorrect co-ords from the army itself, a weapons systems problem or general RAF ineptitude.

Ultimately wars are won on the ground. You can deplete the opponent's capabilities to fight using air power, but ultimately you need to win it on the ground, and there ain't enough men on the ground to defeat the Majahadeen in that terrain.

I voiced my opinion when it was announced they were being sent to Afghanistan that they were being given an impossible mission. The problem in defeating the Mujahadeen is that they melt into the general population only to reappear later in a different place when your guard is down. Look at the Canadian soldiers recently killed by a suicide bomber while giving out sweets to kids!

It was said during the 19th Centrury by some senior British officer that you cannot buy an Afghani, you can only rent one. Tribal loyalties run deep. You might think they are on your side and support you, only to join the opposition when they get half a chance.

WR1Nikki

i didn't think id hear my self say this but im with DCI on this one, im fed up of hearin about the bloody taliban, bomb them all!

bluenosewrx

iTrader: (2)

the problem is that we only took over the Helmand province because the Americans were overstretched there, although we can call on some SF and CAS from them.
There is not enough troops out there for the Job and are having multiple contacts every day, i beleive that the only reason that we are not sending more body bags home is due to the superior training and discipline in our army.

The casualties of minor but casevac injuries is hid from the public so that the politicians can try and justify there policies which are highly suspect in my view.

Our forces are stretched to their limit as you must remember it takes about 6 months of training to go away for 6 months so it turn into a year tour and then when you get back home you get warned of to go to some other shi*hole to try and dig the politicians out of the mire.

P.s Use a MOAB, no radiation for that one,then again the RAF might drop it on us,lol.

Mac(soldier)

Alan C

I could say that some of the Army types I've met were utterrly, utterly useless, but that wouldn't be such an issue would it as it wasn't in a war zone. The vast majority I've met have my complete and utter respect and admiration... but again.. pretty dull.

You have to remember this guy was probably involved with a few skirmishes and possible close quarter fighting... he's going to be revved up something chronic and wanting to blame someone or something for the complete shambles this Government are playing out. They've effectively cut the strength of the armed forces in man power and hardware and are now paying the price for stretching them so thin... this guy is going to get the remnants of an airforce stripped bare of pure fighting ability.. no wonder he's hacked off..

Check out this NBC vid for some reality

Work friendly... No gore or dead bodies etc...

ScottyScoob

ok maybe ive been drinking and have a bit oh hoorah in me, but even tho there are civilians in the area, pull out all the allies, and do a bit of old fashioned heavy bombing ok it maybe a bit of bombs hitting MFD (miles of Fecking desert) but im sure they may get the message. Sorry i am just getting annoyed at this current climate but get the clusters and redeploy the JP233 ok its for runways but it still can get a message through. or maybe get the big B52`s outhere and get a big fleet of them and let go. I am fed up with this nanny state of we shot someone who was bad, oh no!! we hurt them !!! **** em, c`mon UK show we are a super power again not under the blair bent over infront of bush administration. Say no our troops are over there fighting a war that means nothing, make it for our country make a fecking stand show that we do have power (air power, infantry blah blah blah)

Off to get another vodka and coke

Leslie

The Russian army was unable to manage any control over the Taliban and gave up and left.

What sort of chance do 4000 troops less the dead and seriously injured ones and also with insufficient or unsuitable equipment stand against them?

The government is also hiding the numbers of seriously injured personnel too!

Les

brihoppy

after spending some time there myself, im not sure im wholeheartedly in favour of our 'mission' (for 'mission' read bush/blairs personal agendas) in afghanistan, but while we are there i echo all the sentiments about giving us the men and right tools for the job...however, my point is this; isnt our supposed objective very different from the soviets...?! werent they trying to reclaim afghanistan as part of their own nation and with a very different strategy...???

cw42

iTrader: (1)

Isn't it all just about control of the region and the OIL therein? Are people so nieve to think that we are there to free the afghan people, or the Iraq's for that matter!

Anyone seen CYRIANA?

SWRTWannabe

Can understand the ground troops might be a little frustrated at the RAF if something goes wrong. But I'm sure they said that they'd rather have US air support from A10 Tankbusters. Bring on the friendly fire from the air

unclebuck

Is it f*ck - the so called 'Taliban' are muslim nut****s from all over - even from this country.

Leslie

Yes Brihoppy, the Soviets had a different view on Afghanistan to us, but the fact remains they were unable to achieve it due to the strengths of the Taliban as well.

Les