Britain's former ambassador to Afghanistan has attacked the conduct of the war by the US commander, General David Petraeus, describing the future CIA chief's tactics as counter-productive and "profoundly wrong".
Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, who also served as the UK's special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, added that Petraeus should be "ashamed of himself" for making claims of the number of insurgent commanders his forces had killed.
"He has increased the violence, trebled the number of special forces raids by British, American, Dutch and Australian special forces going out killing Taliban commanders, and there has been a lot more rather regrettable boasting from the military about the body count," said Cowper-Coles. He added that the use of statistics was reminiscent of the Vietnam war. "It is profoundly wrong and it's not conducive to a stable political settlement."
Petraeus is due to leave Afghanistan to become CIA director this summer. Since taking command of US and coalition troops in Afghanistan last June, he has increased the use of special forces raids and drone attacks against Taliban commanders. » | Julian Borger, diplomatic editor | Wednesday, May 25, 2011
THE GUARDIAN: Sherard Cowper-Coles:'The nightly slaughter of the Taliban is profoundly wrong': When he was British ambassador in Afghanistan, Sherard Cowper-Coles was a lone voice as an outspoken critic of western policy. Now he's back and he's sticking to his guns » | Julian Borger | Wednesday, May 25, 2011
