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BRITISH TROOPS AGAIN DENIED THE REINFORCEMENTS NEEDED TO WIN THE AFGHAN WAR!



The Prime Minister has pledged extra firepower for British troops in Afghanistan amid warnings that the fight against the Taliban was at a “critical stage”. But the PM has refused to send 600 extra combat troops desperately needed to stave off the coming Taliban offensive.

In April, all three battalions of The Parachute Regiment are to be sent to the country in a show of 'commitment' by Britain to the Nato campaign. The fresh troops will be backed by the latest Merlin helicopters and more armoured personnel carriers (APCs) but crucially there will be no extra British troops deployed to Afghanistan to help finish off the resurgent Taliban.

Defence Secretary Des Browne said that 16 Air Assault Brigade is to be deployed as the lead formation of the British forces in Afghanistan. The brigade - which includes the 2nd and 3rd Battalions, The Parachute Regiment - will take over from 52 Infantry Brigade in April in the latest six-monthly rotation of British forces.

Senior Army officers had asked for a minimum of 600 extra troops to be deployed but the incompetent New Labour regime denied their modest request for the essential manpower needed to fight and win the brutal war. And sources in the Army estimate that they need an extra 5,000 combat troops on the ground to engage and defeat the Taliban in Helmand Province this year.

But under New Labour there has been a disastrous reduction of spending on our armed forces at a time when they are fighting in more regional conflicts since the end of the Second World War. Infantry regiments in the British Army are under-strength due to poor morale, dwindling numbers of new recruits and the catastrophic decimation of the county regiments system - for hundreds of years the backbone of the army.

In Spring the Taliban are expected to launch their biggest ever offensive against British and NATO forces. In preparation for this, Taliban leaders have announced an indefinite truce with Pakistan's armed forces to free-up manpower for the offensive in Helmand Province.

The time has now come for Britain to either engage in this war and fight it with the requisite resources or pull out of Afghanistan completely. As things stand, NATO forces are fighting a piecemeal war and do not have the manpower on the ground to take on and defeat the Taliban. This is creating a stalemate situation where gound is taken and then lost or abandoned because NATO troops do not have the numbers on the ground to garrison and defend captured territory.

We are again witnessing another replay of the Vietnam war, when U.S. forces were denied the manpower on the ground needed to capitalise on military success and consolidate captured territory. And the same thing is now happening to British troops in Helmand who are being prevented from winning this war.

Territory is captured in fierce fighting, then adandoned and taken back by the Taliban without a fight, and then recaptured in battle by British troops. This constant attack/retreat/counter-attack 'strategy' is demoralising British soldiers and damaging their will and ability to win the war.

The message is clear from London to Camp Bastion and back: Only the removal of the New Labour regime at the next General Election will improve the lot of the British armed forces and restore their ability to fight and win wars armed with the requisite manpower and firepower backed up by a loyal and mature government based in London, not in Brussels.

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