Buried in a couple of recent news stories were these interesting nuggets. The first was the expulsion of two Brits from Afghanistan. 'Mervyn Patterson, a British political adviser to the United Nations mission in Kabul, and Michael Semple, the Irish-born acting head of the European Union mission, left the country this morning, according to reports.' http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/12/27/wafg327.xml
Look at Mervyn. He doesn't look like a desk-jockey does he?
Now read this. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/04/wafg104.xml
'Britain's troubled relations with Afghanistan's government has hit new turbulence as it emerged that London secretly planned to build training camps for ex-Taliban fighters.' Great counter-insurgency ideas never die, they are just recycled.
By far the most effective unit in the Rhodesian army was the Selous Scouts. They took captured terrorists, broke them psychologically and 'turned' them. They then took them straight out into the bush to mix in with real terrorists and reveal their location. The Selous Scouts would then call in the copters and the RLI would shoot them. It was a staggeringly efficient tactic. I'm pretty sure by the look of him that Mervyn may well be ex-Selous Scout, or at the least knows some.
It warms the cockles of my heart to know that the British still know how to do some things.
