Britain's Defence Ministry suppresses military defeat report on Afghanistan

London, Sep. 6 (ANI): Britain's Defence Ministry has blocked the publication of a report that warns that British troops are facing "strategic defeat" in Afghanistan.

The paper has been written by David Betz and Anthony Cormack in the British Army Review.

In their paper, which had already appeared in an American journal, they predicted Britain would pull out in failure from Basra earlier this year and faced looming defeat in Helmand, Afghanistan.

"The plain fact of the matter is that, at the time of writing, it seems entirely possible that Britain will suffer what amounts to a strategic defeat in both its ongoing counter-insurgency campaigns," Times Online quoted them, as saying.

Academics argued that the army has been undermined in Afghanistan because "defence reforms" have geared it up to take part in large-scale battles rather than guerrilla warfare.

They blamed failures on the government's lukewarm commitment and unwillingness to provide sufficient resources.

Betz said he was "disappointed" by the article's exclusion.

"It's important to learn lessons from Iraq but even more important to learn lessons from what's happening in Afghanistan and apply them fast while there is still an opportunity of changing things," he said.

Such views are shared by Richards, who took over leadership of the British Army at the end of August.

General Stanley McChrystal, the American commander believes that greater emphasis should be placed on protecting the population and winning hearts and minds rather than killing Taliban insurgents.

It is precisely these tactics that the British Army failed to heed in southern Iraq, according to Mansoor, a retired former chief-of-staff to Petraeus. (ANI)