The NATO pull out from Afghanistan is now complete . The NATO coalition lost a grand total of 3.466 dead of which 454 were British in a conflict that can't really be described as anything but a defeat . It's a not defeat in the way that Stalingrad was a defeat for Hitler's Germany or the fall of Singapore in 1942 was for the British or even a defeat in the way the Soviets lost in Afghanistan that saw 15,000 dead Red Army soldiers and perhaps 1,000,000 Afghans . But defeat is still a defeat , the opposite of success . This documentary tells how NATO pulled defeat from the jaws of victory and how the country is the graveyard of empires
Being a BBC documentary it is British-centric but it's not just because it's made by a British TV company . Afghan history for the last couple of centuries is mainly composed of wild reckless and untameable Afghan mountain men battling the British empire in the North West Passage . During the first Anglo-Afghan war a column of 16,500 Imperial personnel evacuated Kabul . Of this number only 1 man Dr William Brydon made it back to safe lines ! Those who forget history and condemned to repeat it
What the documentary does very well is sum up how from what was a success 2001-2002 where the Taliban had been kicked out of the country to what became a quagmire for the West I the later part of the decade and how Britain in particular found itself stuck deeper than most of their NATO allies in this quagmire . It's summed up concisely
1 ) Britain was fighting a painfully unpopular war in Iraq and in order to placate American and criticism at home sent a expeditionary force to Helmand in 2005-06 . Afghanistan still being seen as " The Good war "
2 ) The afghan culture is endemic with corruption . It's not a country at all but provinces ruled by violent warlords where a " foreigner " can be defined as someone living in the next village and Machiavellianism doesn't even begin to describe the Afghan mind-set with probably the worst offender being Hamid Karzai
Unfortunately the issue becomes clouded with a lot of talking head inserts which is composed of British military and political chiefs who usually say something along the lines of " Yes we hadn't had prepared for this or anticipated that but it wasn't really my fault . It was someone else " I'm currently reading British Generals In Blairs Wars where former chiefs of staff try and give their excuses and shift any blame . This documentary is much worse for this . Former SAS chief Lt Col Richard Williams is refreshingly honest when he states the British Army wanted to leave Iraq entirely to the Americans . Cut to a military head denying this . It's painful to watch General Peter Wall get embarrassed and saying " Well I admit it now we got it wrong " Since his pension is safe Wall and the other Generals ( And of course the retired politicians no longer in office ) will now admit they got it wrong now that their pensions are getting paid out . Here's hoping the next generation of Generals and politicians admit they're wrong at war fighting and nation building BEFORE their pension is guaranteed
Afghans themselves are interviewed such as district leaders " No honestly I'm not a corrupt violent warlord drug baron . You're misinformed " and Taliban members and when it comes to these interviews things have to be taken with a large salt mine . A Taliban commander claims to have hit a British helicopter with a rocket in 2006 . If he did it can't have exploded because no British helicopters were lost in this period . Likewise his attack on a 4 vehicle convoy where he " killed the enemy " what all of the enemy ? There's no record of any British convoy being wiped out . These facts are easy to check . Likewise another commander of the Taliban claiming " Your tanks and helicopters were effective " but the British Challenger II was never deployed to Afghanistan . Maybe he meant American tanks ? Or Soviet tanks ? Or maybe he's making things up ? It's a good documentary about the war in Afghanistan but please remember truth is the first casualty of war and this documentary might prove it
Being a BBC documentary it is British-centric but it's not just because it's made by a British TV company . Afghan history for the last couple of centuries is mainly composed of wild reckless and untameable Afghan mountain men battling the British empire in the North West Passage . During the first Anglo-Afghan war a column of 16,500 Imperial personnel evacuated Kabul . Of this number only 1 man Dr William Brydon made it back to safe lines ! Those who forget history and condemned to repeat it
What the documentary does very well is sum up how from what was a success 2001-2002 where the Taliban had been kicked out of the country to what became a quagmire for the West I the later part of the decade and how Britain in particular found itself stuck deeper than most of their NATO allies in this quagmire . It's summed up concisely
1 ) Britain was fighting a painfully unpopular war in Iraq and in order to placate American and criticism at home sent a expeditionary force to Helmand in 2005-06 . Afghanistan still being seen as " The Good war "
2 ) The afghan culture is endemic with corruption . It's not a country at all but provinces ruled by violent warlords where a " foreigner " can be defined as someone living in the next village and Machiavellianism doesn't even begin to describe the Afghan mind-set with probably the worst offender being Hamid Karzai
Unfortunately the issue becomes clouded with a lot of talking head inserts which is composed of British military and political chiefs who usually say something along the lines of " Yes we hadn't had prepared for this or anticipated that but it wasn't really my fault . It was someone else " I'm currently reading British Generals In Blairs Wars where former chiefs of staff try and give their excuses and shift any blame . This documentary is much worse for this . Former SAS chief Lt Col Richard Williams is refreshingly honest when he states the British Army wanted to leave Iraq entirely to the Americans . Cut to a military head denying this . It's painful to watch General Peter Wall get embarrassed and saying " Well I admit it now we got it wrong " Since his pension is safe Wall and the other Generals ( And of course the retired politicians no longer in office ) will now admit they got it wrong now that their pensions are getting paid out . Here's hoping the next generation of Generals and politicians admit they're wrong at war fighting and nation building BEFORE their pension is guaranteed
Afghans themselves are interviewed such as district leaders " No honestly I'm not a corrupt violent warlord drug baron . You're misinformed " and Taliban members and when it comes to these interviews things have to be taken with a large salt mine . A Taliban commander claims to have hit a British helicopter with a rocket in 2006 . If he did it can't have exploded because no British helicopters were lost in this period . Likewise his attack on a 4 vehicle convoy where he " killed the enemy " what all of the enemy ? There's no record of any British convoy being wiped out . These facts are easy to check . Likewise another commander of the Taliban claiming " Your tanks and helicopters were effective " but the British Challenger II was never deployed to Afghanistan . Maybe he meant American tanks ? Or Soviet tanks ? Or maybe he's making things up ? It's a good documentary about the war in Afghanistan but please remember truth is the first casualty of war and this documentary might prove it
