Afghanistan A Brit View

The Conservatives say this is the war on terror if that is the case it was lost when the Americans cut and ran from Afghanistan in the rush for war in Iraq.

For General Sir Michael Rose, who led the SAS and commanded British forces in Bosnia, it is simple. "Having defeated the Taliban in 2001, the West then mistakenly shifted its effort and resources to Iraq, leaving most of Afghanistan insecure," he said. "This has allowed the Taliban to return." In other words, not only have gains in the real "war on terror" been dangerously eroded, the reckless detour into Iraq has made things worse.

Far from hunting Bin Laden down, the West has been forced to prevent his allies re-establishing a foothold in Afghanistan. n many areas, Nato has found the populace incensed by what General Rose called "American search-and-destroy tactics".

The Afghan army, which has so far trained 42,000 men, is better regarded than the police, but is of very uneven quality. One report from British trainers with a unit in Musa Qala claimed Afghan soldiers refused to fight, extorted money from local people, spent much of their time high on drugs and even threatened to shoot their British allies.

For General Rose it is already too late. "Given the level of resources Nato has at the moment, and the strategy we are pursuing, we simply cannot win. The forces there can't achieve the objectives they have been given." 9/11 - A bloody legacy

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