How ill-equpped the UK forces sent to Afghanistan were - finally exposed. Top Brass, as ever blame the politicians.

Daily Telegraph today Headline : Coroner: MoD guilty of unforgivable betrayal
By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent

"A coroner has accused the Government of causing an “unforgivable and inexcusable breach of trust” with the Armed Forces by sending soldiers into combat with “totally inadequate” equipment.

Troops fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan were not defeated by terrorists but “by the lack of basic equipment,” Coroner Andrew Walker told the hearing into the death of the first British soldier to be killed in Helmand province. "

22/12/04 “Official” Terrorist lights fires of resistance in Afghanistan

"Watch this space for an announcement about troop movements from the Scotsman John Reid AKA Minister of Defence – augmenting NATO forces (now approx 500) – beefing up the response – sharing the burden – spreading the load – part of a widening response in the War on Terror – blah blah … pulling US chestnuts out of the fire – re-run history reel .. Terrorist aided by US bites the hand that feeds … Osama ? Hekmatyar ? "

Postman Patel : Friday, January 27, 2006
Reid sends ill equipped troops to certain deaths in S Afghanistan

"Well John Reid sent our soldiers to a certain death, under-equipped and without a clear military or political objective ."

More Lord Patel posts on old, faulty, delayed equipment here...endlessly.

There is a degree of pointless satisfaction in being right, but anger that the twats at the top of the armed forces just let the Politicians destroy the capability of the fighting forces.

Meanwhile ..."Well, something is afoot in Pakistan that is really dangerous for Pakistanis. There is a real insurgency coming out now that the country has never experienced before, and it's aimed at the Pakistani state and it's gaining ground. It's been cooking up in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) for a long while, certainly in the last several years it's been gathering strength." see An Interview With Steve Coll on Pakistan, the Taliban, Osama Bin Laden and Bush's Foreign Policy - Pakistan is Burning By WAJAHAT ALI Counterpunch. 15/2/08

UPDATE : 16th Feb 0900 GMT

If it's any consolation :

Feb. 16, 2008, 12:05AM
Refusal to send trucks blamed for casualties
Bomb-resistant vehicles requested years ago, but cost too high, study says (AP)

• A February 2005 "urgent" request from a Marine Corps commander in western Iraq for nearly 1,200 mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles became bogged down in bureaucracy when it reached the United States.

• Rather than send the more expensive MRAPs, which cost as much as a $1 million each, the Marine Corps decided Humvees with more armor were the best solution to beating increasingly powerful improvised explosive devices.

• The defense industry could have begun rapidly producing MRAPs if the Marine Corps had told contractors they wanted the heavy vehicles in large numbers.

• By March 2007, with IEDs causing the majority of deaths and injuries to U.S. troops in Iraq, the Marine Corps commandant made sending the MRAPs to Marines a top priority.
WASHINGTON — Hundreds of U.S. Marines have been killed or injured by roadside bombs in Iraq because Marine Corps bureaucrats refused an urgent request in 2005 from battlefield commanders for blast-resistant vehicles, an internal military study concludes.

The study, written by a civilian Marine Corps official and obtained by The Associated Press, accuses the service of "gross mismanagement" that delayed deliveries of the mine-resistant, ambush-protected trucks for more than two years.

A story which has been detailed in many, many posts over the last 3 years here