Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have presided over more than a decade of almost continuous war. It started with air strikes on Iraq in 1998. Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Iraq proper, and ‘a much bigger Afghan commitment’ followed.

Much of the sentiment regarding the largely Western-waged war on terror has made Britain regard the war in Afghanistan as a ‘good war.’

‘The Afghan mission seemed unarguably virtuous. This moral confidence, and the lower rates of casualties (until two years ago), help to explain why, for a long time, Afghanistan was overshadowed by Iraq in British debate. But there are now very few British servicemen in Iraq, against 9,000 in Afghanistan. Attention has switched—and the “good war” is looking more complicated.’

Britain is now shifting its view of Afghanistan, partly because of ‘the summer spike in British fatalities (to well over 200 in total since 2001), their faces and tragically young ages instantly relayed across the country. It is partly that the deployment has lasted so long, and the fighting in Helmand province has been so much bloodier than was once expected.’

The economic reality of the world today, with the West obviously feeling the financial crunch, ‘has raised doubts over the wisdom of retaining such grandiose military ambitions. Afghanistan has for many come to seem a flawed war of choice rather than of necessity.’

Via The Economist