Latest editorial
Lindsey German
STOP the War Coalition convener Lindsey German hit back today at claims by a retired general that withdrawing from Afghanistan was a “strategic mistake.”
General Sir Richard Barrons said pulling troops out 20 years after the US-led invasion of 2001 would send the message that Western leaders “don’t have the stomach to see these things through.”
The US attacked Afghanistan in 2001 and displaced the Taliban, but the Islamist group has fought back ever since and is now rapidly reconquering territory from the internationally recognised government.
The defence secretary’s resignation reveals not a split over principle but a dispute over pace of military spending, as Britain’s political Establishment unites behind deeper Nato commitments, argues NICK WRIGHT
Outrage greeted Donald Trump’s suggestion earlier this year that Britain stayed off the front lines. But evidence suggests our forces were at times pulled from the most dangerous fighting — not by military failure, but by pressure at home, says IAN SINCLAIR
