A TACTICAL EXTRACTION (a poem)

A TACTICAL EXTRACTION

Retired British Army Officers now admit that in

Afghanistan they were understaffed, under equipped

and had little idea of their objective. The Army’s

withdrawal is officially, “A tactical extraction”.

“A tactical extraction” to,  

Be somewhat indiscreet;

Is not so much a victory,      

But more of a defeat.       

The one objective understood,

To crush the poppy trade;

Was for expediency’s sake, (1)

Indefinitely delayed.

And profits from the opium,

(Although always denied)

Financed some who supposedly,

Were on the Western side. (2)

And this year in Afghanistan,

Despite much ‘do or die’;

The Helmand drug crop reached new heights,

In a new record ‘high’.

Thus poppy seeds aplenty for,

The bastards who have lied;

And poppy wreaths aplenty for,

The poor sods who have died. (3)

(1) Western troops took little action against poppy

farmers to avoid driving them to support the Taliban.

(2) Supposedly friendly local warlords and Afghan officials, as well

as the Taliban, profited from drug sales. Ex-President Karzai’s

assassinated half-brother was suspected of such corruption.

(3) Much is made of the death of 453 British soldiers

but not of the twenty thousand Afghans who’ve died

--many of whom perished as ‘collateral damage’.

© Richard Layton