Afghanistan: British army chief admits there will be five more years of hell

by Chris Bambery
Growing numbers of families in Britain, the US and, most of all, Afghanistan are shedding tears for their loved ones killed in a hellish war.
A top British general has admitted that many more will join them in grief as the horror of occupation will continue for at least five more years.
US and British politicians created the hell of Afghanistan today. As the number of British soldiers killed in the country since 2001 rose to more than 200 this week, Gordon Brown's government ordered hundreds more troops to join the fighting.
The war has created a disaster for the Afghan people. The US military's "surge" has meant that civilian casualties increased by 25 percent in the first six months of this year.
Barack Obama and Gordon Brown claim that this week's elections in Afghanistan will mark a step towards peace and stability.
Yet General Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the British army, has stated that British troops face five years of intensive fighting.
Danni Hamilton's son has served two terms of duty in Iraq.
He has now been told he will be sent to Afghanistan. Danni told Socialist Worker, "We are going to lose a generation of youngsters." She blames politicians like Gordon Brown because "they haven't got the bottle to say we should leave".
Thirty years of foreign occupation has left chaos in Afghanistan.
It heads up the world's league tables for poverty, infant mortality, illiteracy and deaths from easily preventable diseases. Despite claims the US-led occupation would bring "reconstruction", most cities are in ruins.
Violent attacks take place across the country every day. Only the end of the occupation can bring hopes of peace.
A growing majority of people in Britain want the troops brought home. We need to force the government to end this hellish war by doing just that.