Troops in Afghanistan 'Fighting for U.K.'s Future'

Yesterday say eight British soldiers die in Afghanistan in a 24 hour period.

The total casualty rate now exceeds the Iraq war, standing at 184.

Understandably, many are now questioning the purpose of Britain's presence in the benighted country - but David Miliband has the answers:

David Miliband warned that Britain would not be safe until it had built sufficient security in Afghanistan.

He said that it was essential to prevent Afghanistan from again becoming an "incubator for terrorism" and a launch pad for attacks on the UK and the West.

Mr Miliband said that it had been a "grievous few days" for the families of those who had been killed, for the Army, and for the whole country.

"We know that they are engaged in a very, very difficult mission and we have a responsibility to engage the country in understanding that mission and supporting it," he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

"This is about the future of Britain because we know that the badlands of Afghanistan and Pakistan – that border area – have been used to launch terrible attacks, not just on the United States, but on Britain as well.

"We know that until we can ensure there is a modicum of stability and security provided by Afghan forces for their own people, we are not going to be able to be secure in our own country."

Well - finally I understand why this obscene, disingenuous liar was tipped as the next leader of the Labour Party.

First of all - we are never going to secure freedom in Afghanistan, at least not as we understand the term.

It is still a violent hellhole riddled with Islamists over a hundred years after we left with our tail between our legs last time; doubtless it still will be a hundred years after we have left after this effort.

I think attacking the Taliban was a very reasonable response to the 9/11 attacks; but I feel we have done all we can. All that is going to change, if anything, is what the Islamic militia we leave in charge is calling itself.

Now our young men die to prop up a government which wished to legalise spousal rape and has no jurisdiction outside the presidential compound under the auspices of this somehow being 'freedom' or 'liberal democracy'.

I admit, if our troops left it is perfectly conceivable that Afghanistan and then Pakistan could become 'a crucible of terror' (more so, because they already are); but we can minimise the extent to which this is our problem by actually securing our borders.

This is the issue which shows up Brown, Miliband and the rest for what they are; they do not care about this country. If they did, they would devise an effective immigration policy and actually worry about who comes here and who stays before sending its young men to die in far off deserts.

What, on a practical level, is likely to make Britain safer; our young men being blown to bits in Helmand, or tracking down the 300 or so Pakistani students who disappeared after their visas expired from one university last year?

British army foot patrols to extend the authority of the Afghan government in Kabul, or looking at some of the 2,000 or so illegal immigrants who try to sneak into Britain from Calais daily, many of them Afghans?

Sadly, unless we secure our borders and clamp down on those on our own soil who wish us ill in any sense, I'm not sure that Britain has a future. Here is an extract from an article by Saira Khan, a Pakistani born in Britain:

The Government has estimated that there are up to 570,000 illegal immigrants in Britain, but with so many visas being applied for with malicious intent, that figure could run to millions. Not that there is any attempt by the Government to chase it down.

Although there are no official figures for the number of overstayers from Pakistan, or from anywhere else for that matter, there is enough anecdotal evidence to show that it is a growing problem. Between 2003 and 2006, at Portsmouth University alone, 379 students from Pakistan were offered places but failed to register.

Considering that the number of Pakistani students in Britain has more than doubled since 2001, from fewer than 5,000 then to 10,600 today, the national figure of absconders could run into several thousand.

Immigration Minister Phil Woolas has admitted that the student visa system is ‘the major loophole in Britain’s border controls’, but I think the entire visa system is one big loophole.

If the U.K. is to have a future, this is what needs to be fought.