'UK military's 'amateurish' Afghan campaign failed to learn lesson of Iraq War'

London, Jan 28(ANI): Britain's Chief of the Defence Staff has slammed the Afghan campaign as "amateurish" and "verging on the complacent" and accused the country of failing to learn lessons from the Iraq War.

General Sir David Richards has also described the NATO's command structure in Afghanistan, as "disorganised and unhelpful" in a new book titled 'War Against the Taliban' authored by an ITN presenter Sandy Gall, The Telegraph reports.

His remarks highlight the infighting and political turmoil amid Britain's military deployment to Afghanistan in 2006.

Most Labour ministers had supported then UK Defence Secretary John Reid's view that "we would be perfectly happy to leave in three years' time without firing one shot because our mission is to protect the reconstruction".

Richards has said in the book that the British military establishment was ill-prepared for the deployment of forces and criticized the Ministry of Defence for not providing "sufficient troops to dominate the physical and human terrain"

He has also alleged that the Foreign Office and the Department for International Development had failed to provide adequate resources for Afghan reconstruction.

David accuses the government of not understanding "the practicalities of high command" by refusing to provide him with a helicopter, due to which he was unable to visit the troops under his command. (ANI)