lots of good targets in Iraq." So comprehensively and badly have the Washington clowns bungled this that it would hardly be an exaggeration to say that the US (never mind the UK) might now be better placed in the world had it simply nursed its wounds at home and not ventured abroad at all. bannedbycastro. So Steele is the voice of Neville Chamberlain? Presumably you're a great admirer of Anthony Eden, another pillar of shining wisdom. colin1983. "Sensible commitment" seemed, to me, to be what Steele was advocating. "To consider what kind of country you want Afghanistan to be" strikes me as impractical and probably would strike most Afghans as arrogant ... better, I'd have thought, to start with what kind of country it is. It's their country, after all. Your remarks about the difficulties with Waziristan indicate you're not unaware of this ... KenCA. Obviously one "solution" to a problem is to destroy the problem. Simple if inelegant. Trouble is, it never really seems to work out that way, as any German who fought in Russia would tell you. You're talking bollox as usual. British Baloch. I don't doubt that Pakistanis are involved and that their intell is fishing in troubled waters but don't underestimate the capacity of the Afghans to create their own troubles ... they've been doing it for centuries! Tzimisces. The Musa Qala agreement actually held for 3 1/2 months, its reoccupation was triggered by the killing of one of their leaders, a Mullah Ibrahim, in