Terror | Film@11

The Man Who Would Be King – Redux

Posted on 17. Aug, 2010 by admin in Around the Planet

Ever wonder what it’s like to be caught in the middle of the Afghan war? Bob Shepherd can tell you. He spent time there as a security adviser and wrote about his experiences in The Circuit.

Now in his new novel The Infidel he tells the story of two British soldiers caught up in deadly political intrigues. A modern-day retelling of Rudyard Kipling’s The Man Who Would Be King, it takes place, like its 19th-century predecessor, in Afghanistan’s remote Nuristan province where Shepherd spent time.

In this interview, Shepherd discusses The Infidel as well as the realities of the war in Afghanistan in 2010.

http://blip.tv/file/4002570

UK Defence Cuts: Reality v Ruin

Posted on 17. Dec, 2009 by admin in Bob Shepherd

Never has Britain looked more like a fading power at a crossroads. To fund the purchase of new Chinooks and other vital equipment to fight the war in Afghanistan, the MoD will close an RAF base, scrap fighter jets, slash staff, delay training, withdraw navy vessels from service and slow the roll out of new spy planes.

It goes without saying that as long as we have troops in Afghanistan, they deserve to be given the right tools and support to do their jobs effectively. But as many have rightly pointed out, properly resourcing the conflict is compromising our preparedness for future ones. The delusion that Britain can continue as a global military power has finally been laid bare. Like a cash-starved aristocrat selling the family silver to repair the roof on his crumbling pile, the British government can either slide toward ruin – or embrace reality, downsize its ambitions and be stronger for it.

Needed Yesterday

Judging from these latest defence cuts, the government in my view has yet to face facts. The UK is poised to drop out of the world’s top ten economies by 2015 yet British forces are the second largest in Afghanistan after the US and were the second largest in Iraq. To finance these commitments, the government has decimated centuries of military tradition. Great Scottish, Welsh and County regiments have gone to the wall forever under the banner of cost-saving ‘amalgamation’. Whatever supposed efficiencies these measures produced, they failed to free up enough cash to adequately equip our overseas military campaigns. The British army was accused of running away from Basra and our troops in Helmund have been unable to dominate the ground for lack of manpower and resources.

As I’ve said before, the fact that our forces have sustained themselves in Helmund for so long with insufficient numbers, equipment and without competent backing from their leaders at the top is testament to their incredible professionalism. Still, it boggles the mind that British soldiers have been sent to Afghanistan to survive by the skin of their teeth. When did our military chiefs become such underachievers?

The Chinooks which frankly, our troops needed yesterday, won’t be ready until 2012 at the earliest. Instead of chasing the error, the British government should acknowledge its policy mistakes, bring the troops home from Afghanistan and give serious thought to what role our military should adopt in order to guarantee our future security. In my view, that means prioritizing the defence of our own shores over fighting US-led wars thousands of miles away. We should be maintaining the Royal Navy and the RAF—not gutting them. We need to adequately fund our intelligence agencies to flush out threats from within our borders, where the vast majority of UK terrorist incidents over the past forty years have been hatched and executed.

Some would argue that our membership in NATO should guarantee our safety if attacked by a foreign air or sea power. Given the caveats on troop deployments and other disagreements which have characterized NATO’s performance in Afghanistan, I for one wouldn’t count on the alliance riding to our rescue. There’s no substitute for self-reliance.

Does a more inward looking military strategy risk making Britain less relevant on the world stage? Probably. But with global economic power shifting eastward, it’s inevitable that nations which do not share our political and social values will be calling more of the shots. The question is; if those shots are aimed at British shores, will our military be strong enough to defend them alone?

Bob Shepherd is an ex-SAS soldier and bestselling author of The Circuit. To read more posts by him, please visit www.bobshepherdauthor.com.

Can Nepal Charm Its Neighbors?

Posted on 13. Nov, 2009 by admin in Around the Planet

Once again, Nepal is caught between the tiger and the dragon. A few months ago, Indian police uncovered a counterfeit currency racket led by India’s most wanted criminal, Dawood Ibraheem, and involving agents in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal. For Nepal, initially the bust was a public relations mess—among those charged in the racket was former Nepalese Crown Prince Paras Bir Bikram Shah Dev, who was heir apparent to the throne before the country’s monarchy was abolished in 2008.

But the bust was yet another incident that has led to current concerns about Nepal as a safe harbor for international criminals. There are over 100 known armed groups along Nepal’s border with India. Despite government efforts, abduction, thievery and other criminal activities are on the rise. And, Indian critics accuse Nepal of allowing itself to be used for drug trafficking and producing counterfeit money.

Does it bite?

The Nepalese government recently agreed to cooperate with the UN and Interpol to curb international crime, and this would seem to dovetail nicely into the decision last month by Interpol to issue special passports to its senior investigators that would allow them to enter any of the group’s 188-member countries without visas to make it easier to apprehend international criminals.

However, most member countries haven’t decided yet whether they’ll allow Interpol officers without visas. And therein lies the tight spot for Nepal: what will India and China do?

Often, Nepal’s neighbors complain about Nepali crime and have conflicting viewpoints on international criminal cases. Despite India’s trade dominance in Nepal, tensions between the two countries have grown as Nepal’s ruling Communist party has boosted ties to China. Yet China’s government has complained recently about Nepal’s harboring of Tibetan refugees.

Nepal’s Home Minister Bhim Bahadur Rawal admitted that the government is still deciding whether to accept Interpol’s request, and in the coming weeks it will most definitely be closely studying how India and China would respond. This is another example of the delicate balancing act Nepal must undergo in order to appease its larger neighbors, and a wrong move in either direction could have serious repercussions.

- Rajneesh Bhandari