Wednesday 23^rd September

“The tragic regularity of the return of the bodies of our servicemen and women through Wootton Bassett must sometimes lead even the most committed of us to ask ‘Why?’” said North Wiltshire MP James Gray.

“It seems to me that Labour have been guilty of three fundamental errors in our Afghan Campaign. First, they are too scared to admit why we are there - to kill the Queen’s enemy - and have preferred to muddy the waters with softer-sounding mission statements about female education, infrastructure improvements, poppy eradication and democracy. Second, this has led to the worst kind of ‘mission creep’ and muddle over our soldiers’ real objectives; and third, of course, they have failed to provide the resources necessary for that mission.”

In an article published in the current edition of World Defence Systems, Mr Gray has expanded on these arguments.

How to “Win” In Afghanistan? (And How to Persuade a Sceptical Public) by James Gray