London, July 1 (IANS) The foreign troops in Afghanistan are losing the battle against militants because their leaders don’t know how to handle the war, a former British diplomat has said.
“We’re losing,” Paddy Ashdown, former British representative for Bosnia, said Tuesday.

He further warned that the US and NATO-led coalition will be defeated in Afghanistan unless operational changes are made.

“We’re on our way to losing and our young men are dying out there because politicians won’t get their act together,” the Online news agency said citing the diplomat.

He argued that the British seem to think the Helmand province is the biggest problem, while the Dutch focus on Oruzgan, another province, the Canadians on Kandahar, the Germans on another portion in the north of the country and the US troops on a different set of priorities.

“Everyone is pulling in different directions and that’s the worst threat in Afghanistan,” said the former member of Britain’s Royal Marines.

US President Barack Obama is reinforcing the American troops in Afghanistan by sending an additional 20,000 soldiers.

Currently, there are around 90,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, 57,000 of them are from the US and the remaining soldiers are from more than 40 different nations, including Britain and Bulgaria.