Afghanistan - Is The Gamble Worth The Lost Lives?

In the space of a week, seven British soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan.

UK Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth has now admitted what we all know already.... that even more lives will be lost.

The total number of UK military personnel killed in the conflict is now 176.

The Defence Secretary justified our continued presence in Afghanistan by saying:

"for Britain to be secure, Afghanistan needs to be made secure".

But is he right? Can we achieve anything approaching stability in the country and will it really make any long lasting difference to the security of the UK?.

Indeed, do most people in the UK even know where Afghanistan is?

Politicians are now starting to give various new reasons for our military presence but our main aim is, apparently, to defeat the Taliban and to stop Al Quaeda being able to operate from within the country. The only trouble with that aim, is that few of the terror organisations' permanent bases are within the borders of Afghanistan; they are operating, instead, from within neighbouring Pakistan and it is unlikely that situation will change in the near future.

We are, therefore, going to be gambling with the lives of our troops for years, if not decades, to come.

History has shown that the military might of most foreign powers has ultimately suffered defeat in Afghanistan.

If our politicians are to continue gambling, I just hope they can prove history wrong!