Here's a man with his 'finger-on-the pulse' of the Afghan debacle.
Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles says failure to come up with plan for country's future dishonours the courage of the dead, injured and serving members of the Armed Forces
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"We are betraying them because we - the diplomats, the politicians, the civil servants - have failed to accompany a perfectly sensible military tactical campaign with a serious political strategy."
Sir Sherard said the failure by those on both sides of the Atlantic to develop a lasting peace process meant there was a real danger that fragile gains made would quickly be lost when British and US forces leave inn 2014.
He added: "What we are doing, essentially, is cultivating an allotment in a jungle, and the question is what happens when the gardeners leave?"
Sir Sherard said that while Al Qaeda had been "virtually eliminiated" in Afghanistan, politicians had failed to put in place the resources needed to "finish the job".
While praising the job done by British troops, he added: "We're in danger of betraying their legacy, betraying their courage, unless the politicians, the diplomats, do their job, which is to broker a serious solution inside Afghanistan and involving all the countries of the region."
