Can You Smell the Hypocrisy?

NATO, stalwart defender of Afghan democracy, is planning to slash its financial support for the Afghan army and police by two-thirds.  And, yes, that would be the very same Afghan army and police we're expecting to take over our security role in their country when we di di mau in 2014.

The Nato mission to build the forces has a budget of $11.2 billion (£7.1 billion) in 2012 but that figure is set to slump precipitously.

Hamid Karzai gave the figure in a speech to graduates of a Kabul military academy on Thursday. He said: "It's set that post 2014, for the next 10 years until 2024 the international community, with the US in the lead and followed by Europe and other countries, will pay Afghanistan security forces $4.1 billion annually." 

Afghan generals believe the cuts could jeopardize security.  Really?  Well, if nothing else, we should be making it much less financially onerous for Pakistan to fund the return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan.

Brilliant, just f__king brilliant!