MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Essenhigh argues that, in the wake of Britain's "unfinished business" in Afghanistan, there is little public "appetite" for further military intervention abroad, which justifies the country's lack of action in addressing the threat posed by the terrorists.
"Thus there is cover for our recent, feeble responses to events in the Middle East such as in Libya, Syria and once again in Iraq, as well as in the face of the exponential threat posed by Islamic State," Essenhigh wrote in an article published by The Sunday Telegraph.
The United Kingdom is part of the US-led coalition carrying out airstrikes against the positions of the Islamic State militant group which controls large areas in Syria and Iraq. ISIL is notorious for multiple atrocities, including the beheading of UK aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning.
UK personnel are also teaching infantry tactics and first aid skills to volunteers from Kurdish forces fighting ISIL militants on the ground.
In February, the House of Commons Defense Committee concluded that the United Kingdom's current involvement in the anti-ISIL international coalition was "strikingly modest."
