LONDON: A US commander’s repudiation of a ceasefire in Afghanistan that was backed by his British predecessor reveals rifts among the main Western allies over how to defeat Taliban insurgents and win hearts and minds.
London and Washington, with the most troops on the front line, have alternated command of Nato’s ISAF force since it was expanded and thrust into heavy fighting last year.
They have occasionally disagreed in private over tactics.
But with concern that mounting civilian casualties are alienating Afghans, those disagreements seeped into the open.
“The higher echelons of ISAF appear to be in some disarray over the forward direction of strategy in southern Afghanistan,” said British defence writer Tim Ripley.
The aggressive US approach “doesn’t seem to be in tune with the philosophy of the British Army,” he said. “On several occasions, senior British commanders have expressed a desire to try to modify the allegiances of potential insurgents, rather than try to kill them.”
Publicly, the allies still say any differences are over tactics, not the overall strategy of combating Taliban guerrillas while training Afghan forces and supporting the government of President Hamid Karzai.—Reuters
