what Is An Ally?

On Friday the soldier killed in Afghanistan belonged to the 1st Battalion the Royal Irish Regiment.  Another was killed by an IED yesterday.  He was a member of the 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment and his death increases the number killed in this unwinnable war to 352.

We lost 106 soldiers during the four years they fought the Taliban in Sangin, Helmand province, yet the governor of the province was pleased to tell the US that the British strategy in the province is flawed.  General Dan McNeill (US Army) was said to be 'particularly dismayed by the British effort' and was also highly critical of a ceasefire agreement the British made with local Taliban leaders that allowed British troops to leave the Helmand town of Musa Qala in 2006. "They have made a mess of things in Helmand, their tactics were wrong and the deal that London cut on Musa Qala had failed," he's reported to have said. (The Taliban reclaimed the area within months).

US Marines took over Sangin three months ago.  So far 27 have died and more than 140 have been injured - far worse casualties than those suffered by any British forces in such a short time.  British forces had strung out a series of small patrol bases along route 611 - known as Pharmacy Road - but the Americans closed half of them to 'free up forces to manoeuvre against the enemy'.

US troops on the ground are realising the British weren't inadequate:

"The British shed a lot of blood here," says captain Matthew Peterson, commanding officer of Lima Company. "They sacrificed a lot of men holding on to Sangin. Let's not forget that the British started what we are doing . . . We are building on [that]."

Some soldiers say that despite the British losses, they were unprepared for the intensity of the violence.

"It all just happened so fast," Buckholz says. "We knew Sangin would be tough but we didn't realise how fast it would happen. As soon as we got here it was, like, bam. There was no time to ease into it. People started dying immediately." (source)

Now the US has made a peace deal of their own.  They are cautiously optimistic although ISAF has been careful not to overstate the outcome of this latest deal which some analysts worry will have little more than a localised impact.

There's nothing more demoralising than an ally criticising your best efforts and saying  they're not good enough.  I never heard Liam Fox defend our troops when the avalanche of negativity rained down on them last year. 

The Strategic Defence and Security Review seeks to lay off 17,000 soldiers, sailors and airmen within five years.  The first of their allowances cuts, which it is said amounts to a drop in annual income of £1,400 for every service person, will be made in April and then phased in over the next two years.  Some payments, such as the commitment bonus for long service, have been cut by as much as half, the MoD has revealed.

HM Forces will be reduced by 17,000 within five years and possibly earlier.  There are many within the three services who know they can command much higher salaries in the business world and to see their colleagues humiliated by the US without any redress from their own government, plus losing income, will break the invisible bonds of loyalty our forces give to the country.  The best will leave once their current service agreements conclude.  We'll be left with a much weaker military.  That will suit the unelected manipulators in the EU perfectly.

Is the US our ally?  I certainly have reservations.

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