Afghanistan close to anarchy, warns general

That's what the Guardian claims the General said. I'd bet money a transcript of his remarks would show something completely different. I'll show you why in a minute but first the fish wrapper's, er, Guardian's report.

The most senior British military commander in Afghanistan yesterday described the situation in the country as "close to anarchy" with feuding foreign agencies and unethical private security companies compounding problems caused by local corruption.

Notice the Guardian only gives us three of the Generals remarks in quotes and then only in reference to "feuding foreign agencies and unethical private security companies" and local corruption. Hell, that describes many places in the world.

The Guardian continues to dice the General's words to fit their agenda.

The stark warning came from Lieutenant General David Richards, head of Nato's international security force in Afghanistan, who warned that western forces there were short of equipment and were "running out of time" if they were going to meet the expectations of the Afghan people.

Note the shortness of the Generals actual words. It's as if the Guardian has something to hide. Exactly what equipment and what expectations are referred to is not revealed to us. How convenient.

Back to the fish wrapper.

The assumption within Nato countries had been that the environment in Afghanistan after the defeat of the Taliban in 2002 would be benign, Gen Richards said. "That is clearly not the case," he said yesterday.

Really? I don't remember anyone anywhere making such an assumption. Here again, the Guardian dices the Generals words to fit their agenda. I'd love to see the Generals words in context. The Guardian has lots of links on the page to all manner of background info on Afghanistan. But none to a transcipt of the Generals remarks. How odd.

The Guardian continues the dicing and has this to say about the Generals remarks.

The picture Gen Richards painted yesterday contrasted markedly with optimistic comments by ministers...

I'm betting the Generals real remarks contrast markedly with the Guardian's report. Because it sure as hell contrasts markedly with Brigadier Ed Butler's report and this AFP headline:

British troops in Afghanistan 'winning' against Taliban: commander

LONDON (AFP) - British troops in southern Afghanistan are winning the fight against the Taliban but there is still work to do until the "tide turns", their commander, Brigadier Ed Butler, said.

Butler, back in Britain on a brief tour to update collegaues on the operation, said officers in Helmand province were now comfortable with the number of soldiers available to them.

Earlier this month, London announced it would send an extra 900 troops to southern Afghanistan to boost its contingent in the region to 4,400 after meeting a fiercer-than-expected resistance from Taliban militants.

The British deployment is due to take control of a NATO-led force in Helmand around the end of the month.

Talking about the mission, Butler said: "We are winning and the plan is sound but the boys are working very hard in some very extreme conditions."

His troops had taken part in some "very successful" operations in Helmand in recent days to tackle the threat from the Taliban.

"It is too early to say that the tide has turned, but we are overwhelmingly defeating the Taliban on every occasion that we have clashed with them," the commander of British forces in Afghanistan said.

"We knew it was going to be tough and we knew that the Taliban would test our resilience and possibly in some cases we have been a little surprised by the ferocity and persistence of the Taliban."

How about it Guardian, care to give us the transcript?

UPDATE

The Guardian's account also contrasts maredly from NATO Chief Jaap De Hoop Scheffer's assesment as well.

“I am quite impressed with the amount of building that has already happened,” De Hoop Scheffer said at Tirin Kot military base, home to Dutch and - by August - Australian soldiers, as wind flayed a group of reporters.

And the Guardians report contrasts markedly with this report from the Guardian!

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) - NATO's top commander said Friday the alliance likely will expand its Afghan mission by year's end to include the entire country, including the lawless east where militants killed a coalition soldier in the latest fighting.

That's what all the latest action has been about; cleansing the entire country of the Taleban and extending the governments control to the whole of the country. The Taleban haven't regrouped or become more resurgent. The Taleban are being hunted down, captured or killed and are fightng back. We are on the offensive and they are on the defensive - and they're losing big time.
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