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Defence chiefs voice anger at 'mixed messages' on Afghanistan

Source: guardian.co.uk Politics

Nov 08, 2009

Summary

Senior commanders say public not convinced British troops can succeed and that purpose of mission remains unclear

Growing frustration among Britain's most senior military commanders over the government's handling of the war in Afghanistan burst into the open today as they stepped up plans to restrict the number of areas in which British troops will be deployed.

As another British soldier was killed in Helmand province – the eighth death in as many days – defence chiefs expressed concern at what they see as mixed government messages about the purpose of the mission.

Chiefs said the public was not convinced that British troops could succeed, and it was unclear whether their mission was to protect the UK from terrorism, clean up the corrupt administration of the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, or to make life better for ordinary Afghans.

Amid increasing turmoil in Whitehall, defence chiefs and ministers have also voiced increasing impatience at the time the US president, Barak Obama, is taking to decide how many more US troops will be deployed to Afghanistan and the

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