Another summer in Afghanistan’s Helmand province

Upon reflecting on another summer of ongoing conflict in Afghanistan, Christina Lamb wrote that “during the four months that the British media has been consumed by the disappearance of a blonde four-year-old girl from a holiday apartment in the Algarve, 26 British families have lost sons as young as 18 on the dusty fields of Afghanistan, but barely a word has been written. Death in Helmand province is now so common that it warrants no more than a down-page brief.” It appears that the attention the conflict in Afghanistan has been subject to by the public is fast waning. One thing will not change, however, the conflict in Afghanistan will continue and probably worsen before it improves. More worryingly, ordinary folk seems to be increasingly more concerned about unfortunate accidents of war and the enemy’s losses than the soldiers who have suffered the misfortune to die or be maimed by foes. It is not right. Not surprisingly General Sir Richard Dannatt, the current head of the British Army, recently noted that he is becoming increasingly concerned about "the growing gulf between the Army and the nation". Up until now, a total of 81 British Forces personnel or civilians attached to the Ministry of Defence have died while serving in Afghanistan since the start of operations in November 2001 – the US has had 441 casualties, Canada 70, Germany 25, Spain 21, the Netherlands 11, and so on. At the same time, there have been thousands wounded. Yet the scale of the loss seems to go unnoticed. These fallen soldiers are the forgotten ‘public’ heroes, missed family men and women. On the other hand, the private military personnel who have perished or being maimed in the conflict are the ‘nonexistent’ casualties. These men were engaged in the same conflict and the same cause. They were largely former soldiers who had paid their duty to the state but moved on to serve the public interest in an alternative way. Nevertheless, their loss is hardly ever recorded in the cemetery of war. Do not be wrong, they deserve the same attention and respect as servicemen. Whereas we need to honour our soldiers, we need to at least acknowledge in the light they deserve our private military personnel. If you are bewildered by these lines, be grateful. Your loved ones probably would have been called for service if it was not for them!