British troops will remain in Afghanistan

Josh Arnold-Forster, a former aide to John Reid at the Ministry of Defence takes issue with the Telegraph's report of his old boss as "suggesting" that British troops could leave Afghanistan without firing a shot.

Oddly, Mr A-F fails to use Dr Reid's exact words. For the record, he said in April 2006:  "We are in the south to help and protect the Afghan people construct their own democracy. We would be perfectly happy to leave in three years and without firing one shot because our job is to protect the reconstruction."

Suggestive or not?  You decide.

More interesting is the timeframe indicated in that quote. Britain's mission in southern Afghanistan is still nominally due to end after three years, in 2009. But finding anyone in Whitehall or the Armed Forces who now believes that UK forces will be leaving Afghanistan in large numbers next year is now harder than getting Dr Reid to say nice things about Gordon Brown.

You can quibble over words all you like, Josh. But the fact is that we're staying in Afghanistan, and firing lots of shots.