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British view of Afghan mission

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The World’s Laura Lynch reports on how the mission in Afghanistan is viewed by military families in Britain.

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MARCO WERMAN: There’s one group of people in Britain who may be watching the outcome of today’s conference with more than a passing interest.  They are the relatives of the 250 British men and one woman who have died serving in Afghanistan.  Many of those families still have questions about the mission there and Britain’s role in it.  The World’s Laura Lynch has more.

LAURA LYNCH: Olaf Schmidt was known to everyone as Oz.  He was among the select few who spent days and nights searching for, then disabling, the roadside bombs littered throughout Southern Afghanistan.  Last October on his last assignment before taking leave, Schmidt was killed as he tried to dismantle another device.  About three weeks later his wife Christina paid tribute to him at his funeral, his medals pinned to her chest.

CHRISTINA SCHMIDT:  In my eyes, my husband, my son’s father was a warrior.  Warriors are unique.  Our protectors, not destroyers.  Oz and troops like him joined to serve traditional warrior values, to passionately protect the country they love, its ideals, and especially their families, communities and each other.

LAURA LYNCH: Christina Schmidt’s strength and dignity moved the nation.  She says she wants people to know Oz believed in the mission in Afghanistan.

CHRISTINA SCHMIDT:  And I think that he joined to protect our shores, whether that be literally on front door, or literally abroad.

LAURA LYNCH: Now a widow raising her six-year-old son Laird, Christina Schmidt refuses to say whether she supports the mission herself.  But she is determined to support the troops, especially because of the words Oz spoke to her just weeks before he died.

CHRISTINA SCHMIDT:  You know that the biggest thing that we need to feel is appreciated because we fall between two stores.  Whether we agree with the war or not, we’re there, literally fighting for you.  He said I’m there and I deal with every device as if you and Laird were on the other end of it.  And that’s what gets me.  That’s what makes me tick and keep my game up.  And he said I need you to stand there and be proud of me and what I’ve achieved and the lives I’ve saved and the limbs I’ve saved.

LAURA LYNCH: But other families who have suffered devastating losses are speaking out against Britain’s presence.  Graham Knight’s son Ben died in the fall of 2006 when his spy plane exploded over Qandahar.  Thirteen other servicemen died with him in what later turned out to be an accident.  Three days later a broken father spoke to reporters of his loss.

GRAHAM KNIGHT:  I’m fine.  I didn’t want him to be on planes but it was what he wanted to do.  But he’s been flying with the birds and now he’s flying with the angels.  And with God – - .

LAURA LYNCH: Knight has become an outspoken critic of the war.  He says he supports the troops and always has, but he wants them to come home.

GRAHAM KNIGHT:  I would like the troops out tomorrow, yes.  I personally feel that the war that we’re fighting now isn’t the war that we went in for.

LAURA LYNCH: Knight says with Al Qaeda all but gone from Afghanistan he believes there is no legitimate reason to keep fighting.  He held that view even before Ben died, even though Ben disagreed with him.

GRAHAM KNIGHT:  And he felt that the Afghan people ought to have the freedoms, same freedoms as we do.  In our country to have a democracy and to be able to choose how they live their lives.  But having said that, I don’t think, if he was still alive today, he would agree that we should still be there.

LAURA LYNCH: Prime Minister Gordon Brown has repeatedly said troops need to stay in Afghanistan to ensure the Taliban don’t return to power and once again give Al Qaeda sanctuary.  Knight believes that won’t necessarily make Britain any safer.

GRAHAM KNIGHT:  The only bombings that we’ve had in this country were done by British people who had gone to Pakistan and trained.  The reason that they gave in their suicide videos for actually doing it was because we were killing their brothers in Afghanistan and Iraq.  So I think our security has got worse since we actually went out into these countries rather than better.

LAURA LYNCH: Aside from their determination to show moral support, Christina Schmidt and Graham Knight agree on one other thing.  They say the government isn’t doing nearly enough to give its fighting forces better equipment and more troops to share the burden.  For The World, I’m Laura Lynch in London.

MARCO WERMAN: Before we go to the break, here’s one more story from Afghanistan.  Michael Semple, a former EU official spent most of his career trying to bring peace to Afghanistan.  In 2007 Semple was working on plans to reintegrate moderate Taliban into mainstream society when President Karzai ordered him expelled from the country.  Semple was accused of being a spy and a Taliban supporter.  You can hear the rest of his story on our website.  That’s the world dot org.

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