"Cuckoo" in Afstan

More sobering thoughts about the NATO mission. And if the UK has equipment shortfalls...

Tony Blair's most trusted military commander yesterday branded as 'cuckoo' the way Britain's overstretched army was sent into Afghanistan.

The remarkable rebuke by General the Lord Guthrie came in an Observer interview, his first since quitting as Chief of the Defence Staff five years ago, in which he made an impassioned plea for more troops, new equipment and more funds for a 'very, very' over-committed army...

...'Anyone who thought this was going to be a picnic in Afghanistan - anyone who had read any history, anyone who knew the Afghans, or had seen the terrain, anyone who had thought about the Taliban resurgence, anyone who understood what was going on across the border in Baluchistan and Waziristan [should have known] - to launch the British army in with the numbers there are, while we're still going on in Iraq is cuckoo,' Guthrie said.

In a unprecedented show of scepticism towards Blair, he said the Prime Minister's promise to give the army 'anything it wants' was unrealistic. 'I'm sure he meant what he said. He is not dishonest. But there is no way you can magic up trained Royal Air Force crews, or trained soldiers, quickly. You can't magic up helicopters [my emphasis - MC], because there aren't any helicopters,' said Guthrie, promoted from chief of army staff to become overall head of the military for Blair's first term of office.

Guthrie said Britain was 'reaping the whirlwind' for assuming too great a 'peace dividend' [my emphasis - MC] after the Cold War and risks being ill-equipped for a whole new set of dangers...

Meanwhile, with the US Army in southern Afstan. If the NY Times Magazine account is representative, things will indeed be difficult (a follow-up to the article at this guest-post at Daimnation! a week ago).

And the Dutch are taking over command from Canadians in ISAF Regional Command (South) on Nov. 1. Good map of distribution of NATO forces at last link.