bobdina
10-07-2009, 12:59 PM
Commanders To Serve Longer In Afghanistan
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Senior military commanders in Afghanistan may have to serve longer tours of duty there under plans being considered by ministers.
Bill Rammell, the armed forces minister, said he was looking at increasing the time spent in the country by officers in order to gain a better understanding of the situation on the ground.
Under the proposal, recommended by US general Stanley McChrystal, officers would spend more than six months at a time in Afghanistan building relationships with local forces and international allies.
Rammell, making a guest appearance at a Conservative conference fringe event in Manchester organised by the Sun, said: "I don't think we could get to a situation where we ask ordinary soldiers, given the huge stresses and pressures that they face, to serve for longer than six months.
"But, at the senior level, where you want people to be building working relationships with their partners in the Afghan government, with their partners in the rest of the coalition, then I think there is an argument for people staying longer.
"That is something that we are pursuing."
Rammell said he was in favour of talking to moderate elements of the Taliban who had put down their guns.
"You do need to separate out those elements of the insurgency who are prepared to commit against violence. You need to support the population ... You need a comprehensive approach. Anyone who says you can just win this militarily has got it wrong."
Rammell refused to be drawn into a "slanging match" with General Sir Richard Dannatt, who claimed a request for an extra 2,000 soldiers had been turned down by the government.
"There have undoubtedly been times over decades under both Conservative and Labour governments when ministers have not followed military advice 100%," Rammell said.
Ministers were charged with taking "a broader view", he said, and refused to elaborate directly on Dannatt's claims, arguing that to do so would undermine the military.
"The day you have service chiefs and ministers arguing with each other publicly is the day you have real problems in the military."
Rammell was pressed by Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, about Gordon Brown's previous insistence that commanders had told him that troop numbers were sufficient.
Fox said: "We were pretty much told, categorically, that as a country this request was not made."
Rammell insisted that this claim related only to current operations, adding: "Yes, conversations do take place and a number of options were looked at. The net result was to uplift troop numbers by 700."
He told Fox: "I am not going to get into this debate, and, if you are defence secretary in nine months' time, you will not either."
The minister's stance was supported by the former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, Colonel Richard Kemp, who criticised Dannatt's previous pronouncements, saying: "Now he has retired he can speak out and say whatever he likes. But it was incredible for him to do so while he was still serving.
"Any remarks he made should have been made behind closed doors."
To have commented publicly, Kemp said, was to undermine the relationship between ministers and the military.
Citing the military deployment in Helmand in 2006, and then-home secretary John Reid's famous claim that no shots would be fired, he said advice given to ministers was sometimes not good enough.
"We have to be very careful about pointing the finger. Serving soldiers should also bear the blame."
http://www.modoracle.com/news/Commanders-To-Serve-Longer-In-Afghanistan_18994.html
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Senior military commanders in Afghanistan may have to serve longer tours of duty there under plans being considered by ministers.
Bill Rammell, the armed forces minister, said he was looking at increasing the time spent in the country by officers in order to gain a better understanding of the situation on the ground.
Under the proposal, recommended by US general Stanley McChrystal, officers would spend more than six months at a time in Afghanistan building relationships with local forces and international allies.
Rammell, making a guest appearance at a Conservative conference fringe event in Manchester organised by the Sun, said: "I don't think we could get to a situation where we ask ordinary soldiers, given the huge stresses and pressures that they face, to serve for longer than six months.
"But, at the senior level, where you want people to be building working relationships with their partners in the Afghan government, with their partners in the rest of the coalition, then I think there is an argument for people staying longer.
"That is something that we are pursuing."
Rammell said he was in favour of talking to moderate elements of the Taliban who had put down their guns.
"You do need to separate out those elements of the insurgency who are prepared to commit against violence. You need to support the population ... You need a comprehensive approach. Anyone who says you can just win this militarily has got it wrong."
Rammell refused to be drawn into a "slanging match" with General Sir Richard Dannatt, who claimed a request for an extra 2,000 soldiers had been turned down by the government.
"There have undoubtedly been times over decades under both Conservative and Labour governments when ministers have not followed military advice 100%," Rammell said.
Ministers were charged with taking "a broader view", he said, and refused to elaborate directly on Dannatt's claims, arguing that to do so would undermine the military.
"The day you have service chiefs and ministers arguing with each other publicly is the day you have real problems in the military."
Rammell was pressed by Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, about Gordon Brown's previous insistence that commanders had told him that troop numbers were sufficient.
Fox said: "We were pretty much told, categorically, that as a country this request was not made."
Rammell insisted that this claim related only to current operations, adding: "Yes, conversations do take place and a number of options were looked at. The net result was to uplift troop numbers by 700."
He told Fox: "I am not going to get into this debate, and, if you are defence secretary in nine months' time, you will not either."
The minister's stance was supported by the former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, Colonel Richard Kemp, who criticised Dannatt's previous pronouncements, saying: "Now he has retired he can speak out and say whatever he likes. But it was incredible for him to do so while he was still serving.
"Any remarks he made should have been made behind closed doors."
To have commented publicly, Kemp said, was to undermine the relationship between ministers and the military.
Citing the military deployment in Helmand in 2006, and then-home secretary John Reid's famous claim that no shots would be fired, he said advice given to ministers was sometimes not good enough.
"We have to be very careful about pointing the finger. Serving soldiers should also bear the blame."
http://www.modoracle.com/news/Commanders-To-Serve-Longer-In-Afghanistan_18994.html