Afghanistan: The media goes from triumph to despair

What a difference two weeks makes. The media have swung from triumphalism to despair as British troops have died almost daily during Operation “Panther’s Claw” in Helmand.

“Triumph for Brits in raid on Helmand” was the Mirror headline on June 23. “Commanders hailed the assault as ‘very successful’, with no British soldiers killed and none seriously wounded,” reported the Telegraph on the same day. “Taliban crushed” proclaimed the Star, while the BBC had “UK forces ‘encounter few Taliban’” – “British forces on a major operation in Afghanistan say they have encountered little resistance from the Taliban.”

Nine British deaths in as many days

And then on July 1 came the first of nine British deaths in as many days.

But we have been here before. Unfounded media optimism has been a feature of every new “push” in Afghanistan – victory is always just around the corner. Operation “Panther’s Claw” was given the headline “British troops in final push to clear out insurgents” by the Independent on Sunday. Yet the “one last push” nonsense is always followed by a fresh bout of grim news.

“After the fighting, a battle for hope” was the headline in the Guardian above a full-page report from Afghanistan in September 2006, which claimed that “Nato’s anti-Taliban offensive in southern Afghanistan is now entering its mopping-up phase.” Over and over again the media proclaim that a turning point has been reached, that the fighting is over and now the troops will “win hearts and minds”. Over and over the fighting escalates once more, with more civilian deaths and more British troops killed.

"Taliban are on the run"

“Job done: Taliban are on the run” proclaimed a headline in the Sunday Times in early 2007. After Musa Qala was retaken at the end of that year, a leader column in the Independent talked about “a turning point in the conflict”, a “watershed”, with a new focus on reconstruction and diplomacy meaning that, “for British troops, what could be described as the ‘combat phase’ here was drawing to a close, with a new reconstruction phase beginning”.

And when US president Obama announced a “surge” of 20,000 troops to the country this year, the media was inevitably full of speculation that this would “end the afghan stalemate”, as a Daily Mirror headline put it. But the US troops had hardly hit the ground when the Telegraph warned: “Fears of Afghan summer of death” as British casualties were mounting, and the forces in Helmand faced “something of a groundhog day”.

The real groundhog day, however, is in the media’s reporting – newspapers and broadcasters repeatedly clutch in ignorance at the latest optimistic pronouncement from the military, which is shortly disproved by events.

Propaganda borders on the absurd

At times the uncritical parroting of army propaganda borders on the absurd. The Telegraph, Scotsman and BBC, among others, all reported that British troops has seized large quantities of poppy seeds for opium production at the start of “Panther’s Claw”. These turned out to be mung beans.

The media fails to look behind the robotic optimism of the army spin-doctors, and so misses the real story of Helmand. And because of these lies people are dying.

Every Friday night at 8pm Channel 5 is showing Air Force Afghanistan, claiming to be a documentary series about life for British forces at Kandahar air base. With Pizza Hut and Burger King, three canteens, an ice hockey rink, football pitches, three state-of-the-art gyms, two massage parlours, and even a disco run by the Dutch army, the Kandahar base comes across as wet dream for teenage boys. The series is designed to sell the idea of war as a macho all-action adventure playground for a Top Gear audience. The commercial breaks carry ads for the army, and when the same series was shown (with a different title) a few months ago clicks on the RAF’s careers website quadrupled.

The killing in Helmand shows that it’s time for these lies to stop.

The media is using the deaths to try to whip up demands for yet more troops and yet more armour to be sent to Afghanistan. No more groundhog days – get the troops out now.

Public Meeting: Monday 13 July 7.00pm. All welcome.