The World

I wonder whether Britain is about to sour on the Afghan war in a big way. The recent conjunction of events is bad.

This week we have a visit to Britain by the ever popular, George W. Bush – followed by an announcement that British troop levels in Afghanistan are about to be raised once again. The British death toll has passed 100 and four more deaths have been announced today.

Even the stories about Prince Harry serving in Afghanistan are – I think – less than helpful. Initially, they gave a sort of “boy’s own” glamour to the war. But television pictures of him visiting horribly-wounded colleagues have actually rammed home the human cost of this war. It is also become increasingly obvious that this is not just some sort of policing operation, with a bit of fighting thrown in. British troops are firing some 11,000 bullets every day.

Daniel Finkelstein of The Times reckons that we have reached a “tipping point” and are about to have a proper public debate about the war. The trouble is that whenever I talk to experts in private they usually say three irreconciliable things: 1) Our current strategy isn’t working 2) There are no real alternative strategies 3) We cannot afford to lose.

It should be an interesting debate.