Dithering Obama has made the Brithish mad. Bob Ainsworth, the defence secretary, has blamed Barack Obama and the United States for the decline in British public support for the war in Afghanistan.
Oath Keeper
US President and his delays in sending more troops to bolster the
mission against the Taliban.
A “period of hiatus” in Washington - and a lack of clear direction -
had made it harder for ministers to persuade the British public to go
on backing the Afghan mission in the face of a rising death toll, he
said.
Senior British Government sources have become increasingly frustrated
with Mr Obama’s “dithering” on Afghanistan, the Daily Telegraph
disclosed earlier this month, with several former British defence
chiefs echoing the concerns.
But Mr Ainsworth is the first Government minister to express in public
what amounts to personal criticism of the US president’s leadership
over the conflict which has so far cost 235 British lives.
Polls show most voters now want an early withdrawal, following the
death of 98 British service personnel this year alone.
Ministers say the mission is vital to stop international terrorists
using Afghanistan as a base, but Gordon Brown has promised an “exit
strategy” that could start next year.
The Defence Secretary’s blunt remarks about the US threaten to strain
further a transatlantic relationship already under pressure over the
British release of the Lockerbie bomber and Mr Obama’s decision to
snub Mr Brown at the United Nations in September.
Mr Ainsworth spoke out as the inquiry into the 2003 war in Iraq
started in London, hearing evidence from British diplomats that the UK
government concluded in 2001 that toppling Saddam Hussein by military
action would be illegal.
Mr Obama has been considering advice from General Stanley McChrystal,
the US commander in Afghanistan, to send more than 40,000 extra troops
to the country.