Today, Stuff reported:
Clearly it's not worth staying in Bamiyan Province for another year. The Taliban have stepped up their summer offensive, with a marked increase in the amount of clashes that have been well reported in western media over the last four months. The Taliban even warned that their new offensive would largely focus on the previously safe province, so there's no excuse for leaving what is meant to be a reconstruction team in such a hot zone.
My own thoughts about the war being unjustifiable to begin with aside, there's no excuse for mismanaging our soldiers combat missions. War is a fluid thing that cannot be dictated by slow political minds who need to be made to understand that their failure to do the right thing is costing lives.
The prime minister is entirely wrong and obviously it is practical to leave. The delay in the government realizing that the war in Afghanistan is thoroughly and truly lost will undoubtedly mean more deaths. Whatever the coalition forces hoped to achieve is no longer an option and it's time to bring our fine soldiers home.
A woman is among the three Kiwi soldiers killed by an "enormous" Taleban bomb blast in Afghanistan, a source has confirmed.
Clearly it's not worth staying in Bamiyan Province for another year. The Taliban have stepped up their summer offensive, with a marked increase in the amount of clashes that have been well reported in western media over the last four months. The Taliban even warned that their new offensive would largely focus on the previously safe province, so there's no excuse for leaving what is meant to be a reconstruction team in such a hot zone.
Prime Minister John Key this morning said New Zealand would not ''cut and run'' from Afghanistan following the deaths, but Labour Foreign Affairs spokesman Phil Goff said it was time to leave.
My own thoughts about the war being unjustifiable to begin with aside, there's no excuse for mismanaging our soldiers combat missions. War is a fluid thing that cannot be dictated by slow political minds who need to be made to understand that their failure to do the right thing is costing lives.
"To leave early wouldn't be sensible, it wouldn't be practical and it wouldn't be right," John Key told Breakfast.
The prime minister is entirely wrong and obviously it is practical to leave. The delay in the government realizing that the war in Afghanistan is thoroughly and truly lost will undoubtedly mean more deaths. Whatever the coalition forces hoped to achieve is no longer an option and it's time to bring our fine soldiers home.
