Thats stretching facts. Before Iraq, ISAF were involved in a very limited basis in Afghanistan. It wasnt until October 2003 that the UN authorised a much expanded mission, which included delving into Helmand province around 2006, which as anyone who has been there will know, is a much different kettle of fish to the areas we were involved in prior to that point. Before then, much of our efforts were focussed in the north, as commented above here on a much tighter set of terms of reference which were focussed primarily on fighting terrorism in the middle east. I dont see much of that going on in the south.
To my memory, the only British public who wanted to expand the mission were those who were lifelong knuckle dragging labour voters, who fell for John Reids "no shots fired speech". Didnt exactly go to their plan, did it?
At what point was it explained to the british public that we were transitioning from a terrorist fighting force to one that targeted an ethnic pashtun organisation that has to my knowledge, never been involved with terrorism in the west?
It seems from your response that you feel the mistake to have been our involvement in Helmand, rather than our wider involvement in Afghanistan.
Our expansion into southern Afghanistan was a mistake in so far as it was underplanned and undermanned. That's not the same as saying it was a mistake to have attempted it, however, as you can't build a stable country (which is what everyone wanted to see in Afghanistan) if half of its territory is outside of government control.
To my memory, the only British public who wanted to expand the mission were those who were lifelong knuckle dragging labour voters, who fell for John Reids "no shots fired speech".
I recall events differently (and no, I am not and never have been a "knuckle dragging labour voter"). At the time, the mainstream media and the majority of the public saw Afghanistan as 'the good war', and were keen to see it succeed. Hindsight skews our perceptions of Afghanistan in that we assume it was always unpopular. This just isn't the case.
Didnt exactly go to their plan, did it?
No, it didn't.