What am I doing here? Afghanistan and the death of a boy soldier

When I see British soldiers fighting in any foreign countries (and recently this has meant Iraq/Afghanistan) I start throwing things at the TV screen and shouting ‘what the hell are you doing there?’ This isn’t a particularly useful reaction, but it makes me feel better. It isn’t particularly rational either, as I realise there are quite a few reasonably compelling arguments for being in Afghanistan. The most compelling being that terrorists who lived and trained in the country flew planes in to the World Trade Centre. This was a declaration of war, and whilst we don’t quite understand why those people did those things, we understand that if we deprive them of a place to live and train then they might not be able to do it again.

However, wars (and particularly wars in Afghanistan) are so friggin’ complicated. There aren’t really any good and bad guys any more, just enemy combatants, militants, extremists, terrorists and a civilian population which can be many different things to many different men. Hearts and minds are bandied about like they’re things that can be obtained with Coca-cola and Hershy bars, whilst military objectives combine with exhortations on female emancipation and locating ‘the right sort’ of Muslims ie the good ones.

No one has ever successfully pacified Afghanistan – not even the Afghans themselves. British soldiers have been dieing there on and off for 200 years. History tells us that you should never invade Afghanistan, and if you do, you should expect a very tough fight in which many people will be killed. Fundamentally, we underestimate war in Afghanistan – it’s always very dirty and complicated – just ask the Russians.

One hundred and seventy three British soldiers have been killed during seven years of occupation. Twenty have been killed in the past month. Last week the news was full of the death of Colonel Rupert Thorneloe; the most senior officer to have been killed since the Falklands war. This was clearly a tragic event, and Colonel Thorneloe was an intelligent, articulate leader of men who was a personal friend of everyone from Prince Charles to Bob Ainsworth.  Whilst I am saddened by Colonel Thorneloe’s death, he probably had some idea of why he was in Afghanistan. The same cannot be said of Trooper Joshua Hammond, with whom the Colonel was traveling. This death troubled me more.

Trooper Hammond was just 18 and he was engaged to be married. He entered the army when he was 16. He was just a kid. We sent him out to Afghanistan to die bleeding in the shattered remains of an armoured vehicle, blown up by fighters from a country, culture and religion Trooper Hammond had little opportunity to understand. I find this boy’s death all the sadder due to the lack of coherency in the overall plan. It seems like the greatest futility to me – a few British soldiers fighting, however heroically, thousands of miles from home in a country they don’t understand and that doesn’t understand them.

So, why are we sending our eighteen year olds out to die in Afghanistan? Former defence minister John Hutton stated on Andrew Marr’s Sunday morning chat show that ‘this is not a conflict we have chosen, but it’s one we absolutely must win.’ Not a bad quote I thought, but the real question is when will we know that we have won, and how many more Colonel Thornloes or Trooper Hammonds will have to die before this point has been reached? And the real answer seems to be that nobody knows, and as with most things related to Afghanistan nobody has any real idea of how we can find out. This just makes me want to throw more things at the TV.