From September 27 to October 1, the British Labour Party is holding its annual conference in Brighton. The Campaign for Labour Party Democracy is putting forward a resolution calling for the British government to bring British troops home from Afghanistan.
If this resolution passes, it will add significantly to the pressure on the British government to move further towards withdrawing its troops. Already, the Independent reports, Britain has told the U.S. it wants to cut U.K. troop numbers from more than 9,000 to fewer than 5,000 in "three to five years, maximum."
As the CLPD notes in its resolution, the majority of Britons want British troops withdrawn. Two-thirds of Britons want British troops to come home, the Independent recently reported.
The British Labour Party has been "Americanized" somewhat in recent years - power over policy has been moved away from rank-and-file activists. But it's still the case that the passage of a resolution by the Labour Party conference calling for British troops to be withdrawn will be hard for the British government to ignore as it moves into a general election campaign. The expectation that the government should follow the wishes of the people who vote for it is still stronger in Britain than it is in the United States.
If the British go, the pretense of an "international military coalition" likely will have to be largely abandoned, as Britain is the greatest non-U.S. contributor of troops, and other major contributors like Canada and Germany, already under significant domestic pressure, are sure to follow suit.
And if the pretense of an international military coalition is abandoned, that's going to add significantly to pressure in Washington against an indefinite continuation of the war. Already, Senator Levin and House Speaker Pelosi are telling the Obama Administration not to assume support from Congress for sending more troops.
So Americans who want the war to end have a big stake in what happens in Brighton at the end of the month. We don't get to vote, of course. But we can show our support.
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Richard A. Clarke and Steven Simon: More Troops to Afghanistan?
Afghanistan is not a numbers game. The issue is whether we are pursuing a strategy that defines our goals and tailors our means to them.
What is disappointing is how many believe these rogue elements within our own governments that commited our lives and treasures into these immoral, illegal, and repetitive mass murders called 'just wars', need for any reason continue. That these monstrosities must continue simply because we citizens need continue to be locked into evil and unjust policies brought about by a menatlly unbalanced and wealthy few, this is a thought process of only the very foolish and uninformed.
No we do not have to remain a party to international crimes against any part of humanity, however we do have the responcibility if willing to be decent and caring citizens and ending these atrocities, also of bringing the demented few within our government/s that began them (in our name) to justice.
Canada is not at all likely to follow the UK out of Afghanistan.
We have been fighting in Afghanistan since the war began. When we reluctantly extended our commitment in 2008, we legislated that we will withdraw by 2011. Ever since, we have repeated it and repeated it, we are out by 2011, period. All Canadian political parties are in favor, it has passed parliament, it is law, with dissenters wanting a faster pull out, not a further delay.
The UK may follow us out, though.