Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing

Below is the leader from the New Statesman magazine on the war in Afghanistan. Tomorrow morning I will be with many others demonstrating against this farce of a conference and the attendance of President Karzai, who is NATO's puppet in Kabul. Blood, taxes and weapons continue to flow towards Afghanistan, yet every serious commentator, whether military or political, accepts that the war is unwinnable. The latest strategy is to try and bribe members of the Taliban.

The propaganda machine continues to grind on, as war propaganda always does and the tragic scenes in Wooton Bassett are used to fuel this. But the fact remains that the war is a furnace ever hungry for more resources and more lives - both Afghan and British. And the generals are the stokers at the furnace gates. The conference tomorrow will make pronouncements and issue press releases but it is all just empty rhetoric in the echoing halls of Lancaster House. As Shakespeare wrote: "Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

The Afghanistan war remains unwinnable. Britain should be making plans to withdraw

On 28 January, foreign ministers from around the world will gather in London for a conference on Afghanistan. The aim is to mobilise international efforts behind a plan for how to deploy military and civilian resources on the ground. The London conference will be chaired by the Foreign Secretary, David Miliband. Writing exclusively in the New Statesman this week (page 25) ahead of the conference, Mr Miliband stresses the importance of a “clear political strategy”, and says: “We will be looking to President Karzai’s government to show that its intentions on security and governance will be carried through into action.”

http://www.newstatesman.com/international-politics/2010/01/afghanistan-war-british-london