KOYLI in Afghanistan a while before my brother enlisted in the Regiment in 1939

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR PAPALSCOPE POSTED:

‘Afghanistan Two Hundred And Counting.’
Last June our Government advised that we should expect further casualties. By the 20th. October 2010, COALITION causalities stood at 2095, of which by the end of that month 342 were our service personnel. At the time of writing this, the MOD website hadn’t recorded further bad news.

http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/FactSh eets/OperationsFactsheets/OperationsInAf ghanistanBritishFatalities.htm

Despite progressive sacrifice, and thousands of civilian deaths, Nine Eleven ,Seven Seven, and the whole new meaning being given to the ‘Refilling of ‘Toner Cartridges’ we are still metaphorically at the same Kyber impasse.

Our Military, fights where it is told to fight, and if it is told to fight with one hand tied behind its back, it has to do that too. Can one have any faith in the Governance of Afghanistan, in its Army, or its Police Force, its Electoral process ; or is corruption rife at every level? Does one detect frustration amidst the Coalition Forces ?

What would those of us who merely keep the Home Fires Burning know of such matters. Should one do more than just ‘up’ ones contribution to the Poppy Appeal? If we the Electorate have sent others to fight in our name, if not on our behalf, surely one needs to be one hundred per cent supportive of the battle they fight, not as is alleged deprive them of equipment, so giving the impression of public scepticism. However should any think the game not worth the candle, that does need telling of.

Does our nation fight for the emancipation of women , fight for the diminution of the Drugs Trade? If the latter maybe we should bomb Mexico and that house at Bricket Wood Hertfordshire where there were thousands of Cannabis Plants growing at Public expense.

What of the North West Frontier of yesteryear, and more recently the withdrawal of the Russians from Afghanistan ? As a twenty three year old Churchill was over there. Later in life he said
‘Those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it’. Monday, 8 November 2010.