Nato in for long haul in Afghanistan

Nato troops are in Afghanistan for a long haul and the number is more likely to increase than decrease in the short-term, according to Captain Mark Heffron, former UK chief of information coordination at ISAF HQ in Kabul. Heffron, who has recently returned from Kabul, has no idea how long Nato's troops, in their first out-of-area operation, are likely to remain in the country. It has commonly been predicted that the western alliance will be there for at least 10 more years and the British officer did not disagree. It could even be an underestimation. Heffron was brought into the new post of information coordinator following concern that Afghanistan may prove to be an even greater catastrophe for the US and Britain, the two lead countries, than the Iraq war. Parallels have already been drawn with the Russian occupation in the... [read full story]