Sadly this war is just not cricket

Maurice O'Brien • Published 18 Feb 2010 13:42 Comments 1 Comment

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THE three years in which erstwhile defence secretary John Reid declared Britain would be happy to leave Afghanistan "without firing one shot" will soon become four.

The killing fields of heroin are pretty much as lush and bountiful as ever, the head of state owes his position to a couple of fraudulent elections and the British death toll rises daily.

Yet they tell us there exists an increasing state of normality.

The necessity for Operation Moshtarak, the biggest assault since the original invasion in 2001, would suggest whatever state exists in Afghanistan is patently not even bordering on the normal. The fear and scepticism on the faces of "liberated" villagers - watching British soldiers heading out in pursuit of fleeing, forewarned Taliban - would instead suggest they know exactly what kind of normality will prevail once the Afghan army and corruption-ridden local police are left in charge.

Meanwhile, quite bizarrely, as allied troops were heading for Marjah and the latest attempt to drive the Taliban from Helmand, there were more shots 1,000 miles away in Dubai where fighting fit young men were defending Afghanistan's honour - by winning a 20-20 cricket tournament. Maybe, of course, that's the normality they're talking about, because as all-rounder Karim Sadiq told a reporter: "People in my country are very happy and there will be big celebrations in Afghanistan when we return.

"I think maybe three million people will come to the city to celebrate and dance."

One trusts those British and US troops won't be too busy to provide a guard of honour and some normal security.

- REMEMBER back in 2005 when anyone predicting round-the-clock boozing would end in tears was mocked, ridiculed and denigrated as a Puritan prohibitionist dedicated to curtailing the freedom of ornery people?

First waiverings came from the trendies running the police service; routinely obliged to send cohorts of their finest into battle with all sorts of shields and weaponry against befuddled young men and women intent on drinking till they drop, in full knowledge the law is there to help them do so. Now the Government, backed by cancer, heart and stroke experts, is spending £7m of your NHS money on a television campaign, featuring Altered States-style psychedelic scenes, warning of the dangers of supping a third pint.

With typical electioneering bravado there's been opposition whimpering about new legislation to deal with binge drinking. Clearly that's the drink talking. We've already got the tools to deal with it. They're called licensing laws.

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