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  Perhaps forumites might like to ponder a couple of paragraphs from this week's Spectator leader on Military Matters:-
  
  'The battles of the next decade will be fought not for military supremacy, but for influence. That is why Hezbollah's leaders have become world experts on post-conflict reconstruction, realising that every conflict is now a battle for hearts and minds. Even Iran knows that the old slogan 'they'll like us when we win' does not apply. From Iraq to Afghanistan, everyone is now fighting for the same objective: popular control. It is more about people than battlefield supremacy.
  
  The war in Afghanistan is being fought not in the deserts of Helmand, but in the pubs and drawing rooms of Britain. Afghanistan may be, in all too many ways, a 13th century country - but the Taliban is fighting a 21st century war to great effect. They aim to inflict maximum casualties, using methods that generate the most headlines. This undermines popular support for the war, and will eventually lead politicians to withdraw troops before elections. The Taleban's greatest asset is the short political attention span of the West'.

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