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Afghanistan: UK Forces

My Lords, from the Back Benches I join in giving condolences to those who have suffered in the recent exchanges. The Minister made a reasonable Statement in good faith, but perhaps he will allow me to reflect on the background to the whole business of invading and hoping to secure Afghanistan. To what extent has one reflected on the misfortunes of the Russians in the 19th century and more recently in trying to subject Afghanistan? How many troops did they employ? What were their losses? To what extent are we seeing the development of a situation where our losses begin to match some of those? After all, what we are seeking is not a modest operation; we are seeking to transform the political, economic and social structures of Afghanistan on an almost gargantuan scale. I do not get much encouragement from the fact that it will now be conducted by a multilateral force. A great deal of history shows that a multilateral force is even less effective than one conducted within the nation state. I fear that we are drifting into a policy which is largely American in its inspiration and which holds out little hope of advantage to us.