The British civil war in Afghanistan

Today’s splash in The Independent about British citizens attacking the British military in Afghanistan is yet another reminder of the challenges we as a county face from Islamic extremism. The fact that these people choose to fight with the Taliban, proponents of the most repressive form of Islam, against the military of their liberal democratic homeland sums up the problem we face.

The Independent reports that the number of British voices being picked up by ground and air surveillance in Afghanistan has increased in recent months. As one Army officer tells the paper, “We are now involved in a kind of surreal mini-British civil war a few thousand miles away”.

One has to imagine that at some point British militants fighting with the Taliban will be picked up by the British military or other Coalition Forces on the battlefield. At that point, they should be tried for treason. No state can allow its citizens to attacks its own military.