an all-out India-Pakistan war. This time both India and Pakistan have nuclear weapons - which they've said they're prepared to use.

Meanwhile, the French government rather unsportingly leaked that the British ambassador in Kabul, Sherard Cowper-Coles, had confided to the French deputy ambassador that the present US-directed strategy - and they are now the sole proprietors of international force strategy in Afghanistan - was "doomed to failure" and that the best solution for the country was for "an acceptable dictator" to be installed. The Foreign Office claims the French gave a "parody" of what the ambassador actually said - but most observers see generous grains of truth in what he suggested.

The British brigadier in Helmand province, Mark Carleton-Smith, has warned that the international forces cannot hope for an outright military victory against the Taliban. He told the Sunday Times that there is a need to lower expectations and he believed there would have to be some negotiated settlement with the local Taliban.

Carleton-Smith (right, with Gordon Brown)

said his troops had been able to keep the Taliban in check, but had not decisively defeated them. There are strong indications now that following a summit between the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Taliban leaders in Peshawar last October, Iran began sending new weapons and trainers to help Taliban fighters in the west of Afghanistan.

The British brigadier also pointed out that 16 Air Assault Brigade had taken high casualties - well over 100 killed and seriously injured in four months - while the elite 2nd Battalion the Parachute Regiment had suffered 10 fatalities in as many days. The cost is too high - particularly in a war whose aims our political masters seem to lack the ability and will to articulate.

Gordon Brown and his European allies can no longer sit on their hands. They must explain why Afghanistan is vital ground for us - with or without the corrupt Karzai regime. They must also say why the Brits, Canadians, the Dutch, Danes, French and Australians must follow the frenetic American military script in the region. If they disagree with the Americans, they must say how we can do it different and better, or get out.