Scott
09-23-2009, 07:54 AM
Give us back-up or we lose war
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w10/StonedSOD/SNN2206B_280_893710a.jpgNato chief ... General McChrystal
By TOM NEWTON DUNN
THE war in Afghanistan will be LOST unless thousands more reinforcements are sent within a year, Nato's new chief has warned.
US General Stanley McChrystal gave the bleak news to President Barack Obama in a secret report that leaked out yesterday.
Former Special Forces boss Gen McChrystal told him: "Resources will not win this war, but under-resourcing could lose it. Failure to provide adequate resources also risks a longer conflict, greater casualties, higher overall costs and, ultimately, a critical loss of political support.
"Any of these risks, in turn, are likely to result in mission failure."
The demand for more troops came as a British serviceman from 2nd Battalion The Mercian Regiment was killed on foot patrol near Gereshk, Helmand province.
Acting Sergeant Michael Lockett, 29, from Monifieth in Angus, died while on a patrol in the Gereshk district yesterday morning.
In 2007, he was awarded the Military Cross for his "selfless commitment and unshakeable bravery" in fighting and leading his platoon to rescue wounded comrades trapped in a Taliban ambush, the Ministry of Defence said.
The death takes the UK toll in Afghanistan to 217 since 2001.
Almost 70,000 US troops will be in the war-torn country by the end of 2009, after Mr Obama agreed to send an extra 30,000. But he is "uncomfortable" with ordering yet more.
Britain - the second largest contributor - has 9,150.
PM Gordon Brown turned down top brass's request for an extra 2,000 troops in April, leaving the UK force seriously overstretched through a bloody summer. Only 700 extra soldiers were sent to provide temporary cover during the elections.
A Nato source said: "We are hoping the UK will contribute another 500 to 1,000 troops." The MoD last night confirmed it had been sent Gen McChrystal's report.
It said: "We are reviewing the assessment with our Nato allies. The PM has previously said we would look again at the numbers deployed following the conclusion of the Afghan elections."
THE Lib-Dems will today become the first major political party to demand Britain pulls out of Afghanistan, in a vote at their Bournemouth conference.
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w10/StonedSOD/SNN2206B_280_893710a.jpgNato chief ... General McChrystal
By TOM NEWTON DUNN
THE war in Afghanistan will be LOST unless thousands more reinforcements are sent within a year, Nato's new chief has warned.
US General Stanley McChrystal gave the bleak news to President Barack Obama in a secret report that leaked out yesterday.
Former Special Forces boss Gen McChrystal told him: "Resources will not win this war, but under-resourcing could lose it. Failure to provide adequate resources also risks a longer conflict, greater casualties, higher overall costs and, ultimately, a critical loss of political support.
"Any of these risks, in turn, are likely to result in mission failure."
The demand for more troops came as a British serviceman from 2nd Battalion The Mercian Regiment was killed on foot patrol near Gereshk, Helmand province.
Acting Sergeant Michael Lockett, 29, from Monifieth in Angus, died while on a patrol in the Gereshk district yesterday morning.
In 2007, he was awarded the Military Cross for his "selfless commitment and unshakeable bravery" in fighting and leading his platoon to rescue wounded comrades trapped in a Taliban ambush, the Ministry of Defence said.
The death takes the UK toll in Afghanistan to 217 since 2001.
Almost 70,000 US troops will be in the war-torn country by the end of 2009, after Mr Obama agreed to send an extra 30,000. But he is "uncomfortable" with ordering yet more.
Britain - the second largest contributor - has 9,150.
PM Gordon Brown turned down top brass's request for an extra 2,000 troops in April, leaving the UK force seriously overstretched through a bloody summer. Only 700 extra soldiers were sent to provide temporary cover during the elections.
A Nato source said: "We are hoping the UK will contribute another 500 to 1,000 troops." The MoD last night confirmed it had been sent Gen McChrystal's report.
It said: "We are reviewing the assessment with our Nato allies. The PM has previously said we would look again at the numbers deployed following the conclusion of the Afghan elections."
THE Lib-Dems will today become the first major political party to demand Britain pulls out of Afghanistan, in a vote at their Bournemouth conference.