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'UK faces Afghan defeat'
22/10/2006 10:00 - (SA)
London - The former chief of the British military said the country's armed forces risked defeat in operations in Afghanistan due to a lack of clear strategy, The Observer newspaper reported on Sunday.
Field Marshal Sir Peter Inge, the former chief of the defence staff, attacked Britain's military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and come on the back of the present army head saying British troops should leave Iraq "sometime soon" because their presence was exacerbating security problems there.
"I don't believe we have a clear strategy, either in Afghanistan or Iraq," Inge said at a meeting sponsored by the Open Europe think tank last week, the newspaper said.
"I sense we've lost the ability to think strategically.
"Deep down inside me, I worry that the British army could risk operational failure if we're not careful in Afghanistan. We need to recognise the test that I think we could face there."
He said that despite the pressures on the armed forces, defence received neither the research nor funding it required, The Observer reported.
Government departments have "lost the knack of putting together inter-departmental thinking about strategy," Inge said.
Governmental administration "talks about how we're going to do to in Afghanistan, it doesn't really talk about strategy."
Inge served as chief of the defence staff, the professional head of the British armed forces, between 1994 and 1997.
Last Wednesday, Prime Minister Tony Blair insisted that British troops would stay in Iraq as long as necessary, as he battled to face down new criticism over his strategy in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
But he reiterated that Britain's policy was to progressively cut its troops in Iraq - while warning that premature withdrawal would be "disastrous".
Britain has about 7 000 troops stationed in Iraq and about 5 000 in Afghanistan.
- SAPA
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