Over the last few weeks I have based my research on the Afghanistan war, I have looked into the

reasons why we are there, how the deployment has increased and decreased over the years and how the war has effected the rest of the country, debt, loss of jobs and how the public perception has changed throughout the years.

British Armed forces have sent many soldiers to Afghanistan, but the deployment levels have changed throughout the years, in 2001, around 10,000 soldiers were deployed every six/seven months, the deployment numbers are now down to 9,500 as Britain is looking to cut deficits while still remain a strong presence in Afghanistan, in total 71,560.

Why are we in Afghanistan?

There are many reasons why the British forces invaded Afghanistan, here are a few; The purpose of the Army was to decrease the exportation of drugs around the world, Afghanistan harvest around $4BN worth of Opium (heroin and export it around the world. By cutting the production of opium harvesting this will cut the amount of funding that the Taliban receive from it, which can, in time reduce the amount of weapons, ammo and equipment they could buy. Terrorism is also serious matter to the Armed Forces, this is the main reason the Army invaded Afghanistan. To stop the development of terrorists and training camps, lately terrorism frequency has drastically dropped, reportedly, there have been no attacks planned by Al Qaeda. The man behind the planning of mass murder terrorist attacks was a man names Osama Bin Laden, he was the founder of Al Qaeda, after the attacks on America also known as 9/11, America declared war and Britain was also deployed to help fight. Osama was eventually killed by an invasion by USA Navy Seals..

Public Perception of the war in Afghanistan!

The war in Afghanistan was supported by the majority of people in America and Britain, this was due to people being scared by the threat of terrorism. After around 10 years in Afghanistan, people have begun to question why we are still deployed over there as the operation was set to only last a year or two, also with the loss of lives and lack of equipment etc. people have lost trust with the Government and want the Army to be pulled out.

Why are the cuts in place?

Britain's national debt was caused by the failure of the banking system resulting in public sectors throughout the country being cut, and with the large competition to save different sectors funding, many services are facing cuts, with public perception taking to the stage, people believe that the Army should be cut because there has not been a major terrorism or war within the last few years.

Strategic defence and security overview

Due to the Government cuts, the Armed forces is the main area to get the cuts as they require the most income for equipment, personnel etc. The Government are looking to cut Army expenditure by 750m within a year and a further 3.2BN over a 10year period, there will be cuts in;
a cut of 7,000 personnel by the year 2015 Army presence in Germany will end in 2020 The number of challenger 2 tanks will be cut by 40% , down to 200. Heavy artillery cut by 35%

Maintained/improvements to the Army

Building of more Chinooks and updating the others to modern standards. Harriers to be built for 2020 112,000 soldiers fully trained by 202080,000 full time and 30,000 part time. Retirement of Lynx AH7 Introductions of Wildcat (fast, multi terained vehicle).

National Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)

NATO is an Intergovernmental Military Alliance Based on the North Atlantic treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The NATO headquarters is based in Brussels, Belgium. NATO is joined by around 50 different countries, a few being; England, USA, Belgium, Latvia, Slovenia etc. 28 are members while the other 22 are signed to the Partnership of peace. Partnership of peace (PfP) is a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) program aimed at creating trust between NATO and other states in Europe and the former Soviet Union; 22 States are members. How will Britain use NATO for the future? Due to the rapid decline of soldiers and vehicles in the British Army, we are no longer seen as a serious threat and the presence we once had as a super power is now non-existent. The thing that will change mainly is the fact we dont have to go into a war/battle solo, instead we will cooperate with NATO, if there is a country NATO decides to invade due to certain issues, we will have a chance to say no but if we felt we needed to, we could support the main super powers (America). 9,500 soldiers have been signed by Britain to be part of NATO, this meaning that the soldiers signed up will have to participate in the operations which have been planned.