IT'S been a week since I returned home, but at night I dream I'm back in Afghanistan. Usually I'm in a Chinook helicopter, looking through the open hatch in the floor at the endless desert. But twice I've dreamed of a two-year-old boy I saw in Musa Qala, who had the cutest smile you've ever seen and whose idea of fun was kicking the hell out of his pet puppy. The look in his eyes did not fill you with optimism for his country. I really hope I stop dreaming about him soon.
Being embedded with the British Army in an area of Taliban strength, I was never likely to get under the skin of the real Afghanistan or get a true measure of its people. But my five days with the military certainly gave me an insight into the mettle
of Scottish soldiers serving there, from the highest ranks to the lowliest. And I'm happy to share these impressions with Alex Salmond, who last week seemed very confident that he knew exactly what Scots in the armed forces really believed about the wars they were fighting far from home.
Salmond was talking about Iraq, on the fifth anniversary of the US and UK-led invasion. He insisted a majority of Scottish troops currently stationed in Iraq don't believe they should be there at all. Various Labour politicians have since accused him of undermining military morale and misrepresenting soldiers who are not allowed to speak for themselves. The First Minister is unrepentant.
The SNP attitude to Iraq is well known, but what of its current policy on Afghanistan? I had a vague idea the operation to dislodge the Taliban regime, destroy al-Qaeda bases and help rebuild a new representative Government had the Nationalists' full backing.
Not so, it seems. Last week I asked the party for clarification of its position, and what I received was an eye-opener. I can assure Salmond that if he ever gets a chance to discuss his stance with some real soldiers, he will find himself on the receiving end of some choice barrack-room language. Salmond says he speaks for Scottish soldiers in Iraq. I doubt very much if that's the case. He definitely doesn't speak for Scottish soldiers in Afghanistan.
The SNP did indeed back the initial 2001 invasion, but now seems unwilling to support the hard work – perhaps taking decades – that is necessary to stabilise Afghanistan. Somewhat bafflingly, the party says the initial objectives in Afghanistan "were destroyed by the disastrous invasion of Iraq, and we need a fundamental reappraisal of what the objectives in Afghanistan now are, based on our view that military intervention should be legal, limited and short".
The isolationism apparent in this statement is depressing. It suggests an SNP view that hard work in difficult parts of the world can be done by other countries, but Scotland would rather keep out of it, if that's okay. It's an attitude that Scottish soldiers serving in Afghanistan, in a UN-sanctioned operation with public support at home, would view with utter disdain.
I went to Afghanistan not knowing quite what to expect. I came away with a deep respect for the British men and women who are there risking their lives to build a better country and keep the Taliban from power. Admittedly, there was one soldier whose views disgusted me. He said that whenever he was woken early in the morning by the Muslim call to prayer, he had the following reaction: "I feel like letting them know exactly what I think of them with 120 rounds." Thankfully, he was a backroom administrator in a base camp, unlikely to see frontline service. His was a solitary voice. The rest of the soldiers I met were hugely impressive people. They took pride in the job they were doing and the reasons for doing it. The squaddies were thoughtful and articulate. The officers impressed with their intelligence, which they applied as much to reconstruction and development as they did to hunting down the Taliban.
Salmond was right when he said Scottish soldiers fight primarily for their comrades and for their regiment. But in Afghanistan they are also fighting to prevent the country from falling into the hands of Islamofascists who want to export terror to places like Glasgow Airport. This, I can assure Salmond, is a matter of satisfaction for the Scots on the ground.
In recent years Salmond has made great play of the fight to save Scotland's regiments, and his party has reaped electoral success in areas such as Tayside and Grampian, where feelings on this subject have run high. But since coming to power a year ago he has shown no interest in travelling to those parts of the world where Scottish soldiers are demonstrating exactly why these regiments have such a fine reputation.
What could be more appropriate than the elected leader of Scotland making a little effort to show his appreciation for the work of Scottish troops? If travelling to Iraq or Afghanistan or Kosovo or Bosnia was politically inconvenient for him, he could easily have paid a visit to a base in Germany, Cyprus or Northern Ireland, or perhaps UN operations in Sierra Leone or Ethiopia. But no, it seems this does not fit his idea of what a First Minister should do, and he would rather pontificate about war from the safety of Charlotte Square. This omission reflects poorly on him. I, for one, am glad that Salmond is not these soldiers' commander-in-chief. And I suspect they are too.
•
kenny.farquharson@scotlandonsunday.comThe full article contains 943 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
