And so ends the war in Afghanistan, as these things always end, in an unconditional surrender, dressed up as something else for the sake of decorum, on the part of the side that was always going to leave eventually, since it was the side that had anywhere else to go. This whole thing has been for nothing. Absolutely nothing at all.
Forget about UN Security Council Resolutions, and forget about House of Commons resolutions to authorise the use of military force, never mind Peace Pledge ballots of party members or what have you.
Britain should only ever use such force in self-defence, and MPs should make it perfectly clear that they would vote against a motion of confidence in any Government, regardless of party, that did not adhere to that principle.
That should be taken as a given. It should be universally and even unspokenly accepted as a fact of political life that MPs would bring down any Government that used military force in anything other than self-defence.
Forget about UN Security Council Resolutions, and forget about House of Commons resolutions to authorise the use of military force, never mind Peace Pledge ballots of party members or what have you.
Britain should only ever use such force in self-defence, and MPs should make it perfectly clear that they would vote against a motion of confidence in any Government, regardless of party, that did not adhere to that principle.
That should be taken as a given. It should be universally and even unspokenly accepted as a fact of political life that MPs would bring down any Government that used military force in anything other than self-defence.
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I wouldn’t say it’s been for nothing. They nailed Bin Laden and the US couldn’t really sit there while the Taliban was refusing to give up the people who attacked and murdered 3,000 of its citizens on its own soil. If, however, anyone thought the war’s ultimate aim was to also make Afghanistan Taliban-free Western democracy then that’s failed. Law governed Western democracies cannot take root in clan-based Muslim countries any more than oranges can grow in Yorkshire.
ReplyDeleteOranges can and do grow in Yorkshire. Tea can't, though.
DeleteAs for the rest, where to begin? Ho, hum. Britain made a run for it from this nightmare some time ago, and now the defeated United States has been forced to surrender, just as in Vietnam.