The Times today reports that the British government has held back from deploying an 800 strong rapid reaction force to Afghanistan:
BRITAIN agreed to provide an extra 800 troops to allied forces fighting the Taliban in southern Afghanistan but later withdrew the offer, Nato officials disclosed last week.
Lieutenant General David Richards, the commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, planned to use the 800-man force as troubleshooters, sending them into any area where fighting broke out.
However, John Reid, then the defence secretary, was so angry at the reluctance of other Nato countries to supply troops that the offer was retracted.
Yes, Britain’s NATO allies should be doing more to help, and should certainly be providing more troops to support the NATO mission in Afghanistan.
But, given the difficult situation that British troops are finding themselves in at the moment, holding back reinforcements in order to prove a political point to one’s NATO allies is nothing more than negligence on the part of the British government.