Gurkha ordered back to UK after beheading dead Taliban fighter

He had to show positive ID of a dead high value enemy? Where's the problem in this? If we are worried about upsetting the local Muslim population I suspect his family and friends aren't in the friendly category anyway?
 
he could have taken a swab of dna or a photo or many many other options available!

it matters because we are trying to convince the afghans that we are better that the taliban! finding beheaded bodies is not going to help is it ;)
 
I don't have a problem with British troops grossly insulting the Taliban, who knows - if we did a bit more of it perhaps we might start winning.
 
so who is this person who felt it would be insulting to muslims ?
surely if they care so much then pull the **** out of afghanistan, im sure they are more insulted by our troops presence than the decapitating of a dead soldier.
 
vonhelmet said:
He broke the "rules" i.e. the Geneva convention. And never mind how barbaric the enemy is, sinking to their level is not the best idea, especially when we're still supposed to be winning the populous over on the "hearts and minds" type front.

The sticking point is whether their coming under fire before they could remove the body was sufficient justification for attempting to behead the guy, or whether they could have gone back from him after the fight was over.
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Do the Taliban follow the rules of the Geneva convention then?

I dont see the issue really if they had to prove he was dead and were underfire. His quick thinking has likely saved the lifes of a few people that might have had to go back for the body. To which could have found it was gone and the area was filled with traps.

If this was a case that he hadnt been underfire then I might have understood why people thought it was odd to do this. I mean if it was a normal day not underfire then I guess they would have removed the whole body as proof.
 
ChrisJSY said:
Quote...
-"This is considered a gross insult to the Muslims of Afghanistan!
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Yeah because as a christian I wouldn't find it insulting at all to have my head hacked off. Infact you could hear Bigleys cries of joy as he got such an honarable death.

scorza said:
I don't have a problem with British troops grossly insulting the Taliban, who knows - if we did a bit more of it perhaps we might start winning.
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Yep I couldn't care less either, I understand why we don't with the geneva convention and all that, but I'd be telling them we will be burying you with bits of pigs.
 
scorza said:
I don't have a problem with British troops grossly insulting the Taliban, who knows - if we did a bit more of it perhaps we might start winning.
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Quite the opposite really - the big problem with this incident is that it will annoy the **** out of the locals. Its not exactly a simple situation and if we're trying to get local Taliban commanders to switch sides or gain support from towns/villages where the locals currently support the taliban then incidents like this don't really help matters. I'm sure this guy thought he was doing the right thing and from his pov he's got some reasoning behind it but overall it definitely wasn't a good thing to happen. I wouldn't put too much faith in the daily mail reporting of the incident either. This little gem was included at the bottom of the article:

The kukri’s heavy blade enables the user to inflict deep wounds and to cut muscle and bone with one stroke.


It can also be used in stealth operations to slash an enemy’s throat, killing him instantly and silently.
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:rolleyes::D

yup the daily fail journalist has been watching a few too many James Bond movies.
 
are the Taliban covered under the geneva convention anyway as they are not a recognised uniformed enemy force?

you see a lot of shotguns being used in house clearances now which I am sure wouldnt normally be allowed to be used against enemy soldiers but I assume are ok against the taliban?
 
FTM said:
are the Taliban covered under the geneva convention anyway as they are not a recognised uniformed enemy force?

you see a lot of shotguns being used in house clearances now which I am sure wouldnt normally be allowed to be used against enemy soldiers but I assume are ok against the taliban?
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As you say if we were fighting a uniformed army that presented them self on battle field this would be a completely different story.

I mean wasnt so many years ago that the Taliban liked to hack peoples heads off live on camera. I guess this still happens and the news just got bored with showing people in orange jump suits having there dead hacked off while still being ALIVE i may add. Most of these werent even soliders.

Taliban dont fight like an army so shouldnt be treated as such.
 
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they must never be able to collect all the bits from suicide bombers either..how do they bury them!
 
Picture it from the point of view of an everyday Afghan civilian, on one side you've got the Taliban, pushing you around, telling you what to do, but they've been around for years so you know how things work with them.

Then you get a bunch of foreigners coming along, stiring up trouble, but promising things will be better with them because they take a more responisble caring angle and arent as brutal as the Taliban.

But then you hear they've beheaded someone, and actually they're no different to the brutal thugs you've had before. Who are you gonna side with after that?

PK!
 
It's kinda the sad the lad will have to be punished for this. It looks like it was a bit of ill-considered quick-thinking. Gotta id him? No time to take the body? Hmm... Thwack? Will this do?

But we can't have our soldiers behaving like that.
 
My Dad's friend that went to the Falklands said that the Argies had their throats slit by these guys they had a sorta bet of who could do the most this way...

Also my mate that return from Afgan said that its due to the fact they have to bury the whole body and he is going to back in the UK untill this all blows over.

Stelly
 
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