Other Nato troops in Afghanistan party whilst British die

[Blackleaf]

As British troops risk their lives fighting the Taliban, other nations' soldiers in Afghanistan - most notably French, German and Italian troops - are partying. They are staging nightly drinking and karaoke sessions.

The British, ed by the behaviour of their "brave allies", have even dubbed the Kia base "Kia Napa" after the partying resort of Ayia Napa in Cyprus.


Nato troops party while British die on the front line

By CHRISTOPHER LEAKE

7th October 2006

On the front line: British troops have endured hardships while other Nato troops party






Nato troops in Afghanistan are staging nightly drinking and karaoke sessions as British soldiers are dying on the front line.

Exhausted British Paras returning from four months of battles against the Taliban - while enduring meagre rations and shortages of clean water - have been ed to find other European troops partying at Kabul International Airport, known as KIA.

The Paras have even dubbed the base "KIA Napa" after Cyprus's notorious party resort, Ayia Napa.

Most Nato troops in Kabul are not sent to the front line because their governments have refused to put their lives at risk - unlike the British. They protect the airport and the capital instead.

British soldiers from 3 Para Battle Group, who have seen 41 comrades die in Afghanistan since the spring, say the airport is a 'haven' for parties for Italian, Hungarian, French, German and Belgian troops.

They are held in giant tents designed to cover military aircraft, or in huge containers that are transformed into makeshift nightclubs.

One Para sergeant who stayed at the airport last week after a tour in Helmand Province said Kabul was "like something out of a Vietnam war film where everyone is oblivious to what is going on elsewhere".

He added: "The clowns at the airport had no idea of what was going on in Helmand. An Italian invited us to a party where he said there would be a lot of chicks and plenty of action, then his French mate tried to pick a fight. I told my boys to keep away from them - losers.

"At a bar in the airport, soldiers sat in their pressed uniforms with beer in one hand and women in the other. We stood there with our mouths open. What a waste of rations."

Another British officer said: "The situation is causing a major split in the Alliance, as the UK, the US and a handful of other nations are seen to be doing all the work."

And a corporal with 3 Para said: "It is an insult to the rest of us who are mixing it with the enemy at close quarters. These people should just go home. They are on the lash every night and delivering very little to the operation."

But Mark Laity, Nato's spokesman in Kabul, said comments made by British troops were "highly exaggerated", "inaccurate" and "misleading".

He added: "Alcohol is not banned and it is common to find women in Nato forces. It should therefore be no surprise that in off-duty hours, men and women mix together while sharing a drink."

British General David Richards, commander of Nato's force in Afghanistan, added: "Away from the front line, living conditions are inevitably better, although still austere.

"The troops are still separated from their families and still work long hours. So when their day's work is done it would be churlish to begrudge them a break from their duties that is as pleasant as possible.

"But bad behaviour and excessive drinking will not be tolerated and are subject to disciplinary action."

Readers of this story were equally ed by the actions of the French, Germans and Italians.



Recent formation of an E.U. army is a grave mistake. British soldiers would be at risk from so called comrades unwilling to fight due to individual government policy and an unwillingness to get down to the work in hand which the Afghanistan conflict proves. These so called allies could at least show some bottle!

- Robert Shirt, Brigg, Lincolnshire
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Brings to mind the words of General Montgomery when it was proposed to man intercontinental rocket ships with mixed crews from Nato countries - "There'll be more fighting inside the ships than outside them!" Anglo/US forces liberated Europe in 1944/45 - the French, Belgians, Dutch, Danes, did nothing to help themselves! This is just a repeat performance!

- Ralph Smith, Victoria BC, Canada
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I would sooner believe the Paras version of this than some spokesman [[Mark Laity]] who probably organises the parties.

- Mick, Aberdeenshire


dailymail.co.uk

 

[EastSideScotian]

Comes as no Surprise. Europeans are lazy bums. Belgain is a laughing stock when it comes to taking missions seriusly, Rawanda they would do what they wanted and never listen to orders, and always go around tring to get in fights and have parties. AND France.....Who hasnt Invaded them? They are a joke maybe it would be fair to them if we were too go back to the old Volley system, with Muskets and bright uniforms, then maybe they would feel it easy enough to battle.

The Dutch though, they actully have been doing alot of fighting....but thats Denmark...Most other nations just see this as away to pay soldiers, and get alttle pay assitance form the Alliance.

Why is it Canada is Never Mentioned in any British Articals? We are and have been doing the Magority of the Combat in Afganistan.....

 

[Sassylassie]

Here is an article with Hillier's opinion, I was gob smacked to learn their are troops serving over there doing nothing but partying and lounging around. Shame on those countries.

More nations must `step up,' Hillier says
General says too many caveats imposed by some NATO members that limit how their troops can be used
Oct. 7, 2006. 07:20 AM
ROSIE DIMANNO


Bullet-shielded and combat-shy military deployment — pseudo-troops from NATO partners that won't fight, kept on a short, politically measured leash — could doom the international security mission in Afghanistan, where Canadians are paying such a high price in blood and treasure.

That comes, if not in those exact words but the frustration is palpable, from Canada's top soldier, Gen. Rick Hillier.

In an interview with the Star yesterday, Hillier said 2,000 more troops are needed now: Boots on the ground to hold the ground in volatile Kandahar province where the Taliban strike, if not at will, then certainly wilfully and with lethal cunning.

"The NATO force structure to do the job is not on the ground," Hillier stated bluntly, and just days removed from an eyes-on assessment of the situation in southern Afghanistan.

Promises, so easy to make in the prestige-polishing, shoulder-to-shoulder environment of summit conferences, have not translated into the kind of bold, integrated and shared effort that was envisioned originally and to which the NATO community (plus non-NATO partners) committed itself anew only 18 months ago.

At that time, some 37 nations signed on again to what is essentially a contract of intention — the Combined Joint Statement of Requirements — that included a further theatre reserve battle group of 2,000 troops.

"The core of that theatre reserve battle group would right now, if (NATO) had it, be deployed in southern Afghanistan, probably in Kandahar province," said Hillier. "With those forces, we could exploit the huge opportunity that we have in front of us a result of the significant tactical win in Operation Medusa."

Operation Medusa was the recent and vigorous combat mission, in which Canadians played such a vital role, to clear out Taliban forces that had massed in villages of the Panjwaii district west of Kandahar city, an area that has been repeatedly scrubbed by NATO troops. The Taliban had purportedly been planning a full-frontal assault on the provincial capital. Holding the city, if only for a few hours, would have been a sharp stick in NATO's eye and incalculable status success for the insurgents.

In conventional combat, the Taliban can't defeat NATO troops. Its leaders claim they dispersed to fight another day, and to continue fighting by other means, those most conducive to sapping public support in NATO countries — by suicide bomber and roadside bombing ambush.

But this is a day-to-day struggle, containing the Taliban if not eradicating them, and that containment would be immensely more achievable, says Hillier, with a more robust infantry contingent, minus the restraining "caveats" that many NATO countries have quietly inserted into their rules of engagement.
The upshot is that a large portion of the 18,000 NATO troops in-country — bolstered last week, if only organizationally, by 12,000 pre-existing American troops who have now come under NATO command — don't actually engage at all in the most perilous assignments. Yet they do get to boast that they're in Afghanistan, carrying their portion of the burden."In the south, the Dutch, the Brits, the Americans, us, the Romanians — who've got a significant force on the ground and who are doing very well — along with the Australians, are doing the heavy lifting," said Hillier.

"The rest of the countries in NATO need to step up and fill that (Combined Joint Statement of Requirements). They've got to do that.
"I'll take any of the other countries outside that group and say, you've got to step up.''

Commanders need to impose genuine command, making full tactical use of those entire NATO troop contributions, in order to meet the complexities of a mission that has tilted heavily toward combat in the last six months, stalling promised reconstruction of Afghanistan as a functioning state.

"We need the flexibility to use all the forces that are already there," said Hillier. "And not without all these national caveats that prescribe where they're going to be and how they can be used."

The chief of defence staff was also busy stomping out the brushfire of a huge public relations disaster that arose this week, as reported yesterday by the Star's Bruce Campion-Smith: Ugly optics of an existing Canadian military policy that takes away "danger pay" from soldiers wounded in the field, even if they are removed from the theatre of war for medical treatment at the primary military hospital in Germany or back home in Canada.

That, Hillier vowed, will be changed — in application if not bureaucratic protocol — although he didn't explain how or how quickly.

"I'm not going to let any of our soldiers down. That's my commitment to them as chief of staff."

Hillier admitted he had not known about the policy — "it wasn't even on my radar" — until he heard complaints from troops when he was in Afghanistan last week. "The soldiers brought it up to me and I said: `I got it. We'll look after that. We'll get it fixed and we'll get it right.'"

On Thursday, he ordered his staff — the "big-brained" crew at his office — to find a way to fix it.

"I said: `Here's the issue. Now come back and tell me what the solutions are and what the options are to make sure we look after those soldiers.' We'll get at it. We'll make sure those soldiers get their money.

"Our soldiers have to understand quite clearly that we're not going to have them pay another penalty after they've taken a wound for Canada, a body blow for Canada, in service of their country, in service to Canadians. Even if we (the military) were absolutely irresponsible, our country wouldn't permit that to occur."

In an earlier scrum with reporters at the Canadian Forces Staff College in Toronto, Hillier indicated the bizarre policy would be redressed within a matter of "days and weeks."

Continuing the combat pay allotment, which totals a not insignificant $2,111 a month for soldiers serving in Afghanistan, would apply, Hillier said, to soldiers who've suffered both combat and non-combat injuries. The resolution would also be retroactive to cover all the Canadians soldiers, about 200, who have been injured during their tours in Afghanistan.

"We could not start from this day and go forward, and look after some but not look after the rest. We're going to look after all those men and women."

Afterward, Hillier departed for Trenton and yet another round of solemn repatriation ceremonies for two Canadian soldiers slain in Afghanistan earlier this week.