Time to withdraw the legions from Parthia.
When will it be deemed too costly to continue an unwinnable war in Afghanistan? The cost in surplus economic units (human lives) or prestige or simply pounds, shillings and pence must be counted. "Nails" Collins criminalizes the Afghans for being Afghan in their own nation.Compare this with Ulster. Miliband hints at the idea that if we don't fight them in central Asia we will be forced to deal with the consequences in England. Two points, firstly, Vietnam. "If we don't fight the Viet Minh in Indochina it will be in Honolulu or San Diego". Spurious to say the least. Secondly, has the idea of an independent foreign policy crossed Whitehalls public school, Ivy league fascinated mind? Iraq was for the guarantee of "cheap gas" in Alabama or Oregon. The teleological outcome is far more tenuous in Afghanistan. If the U.K government wish to export democracy (it would be good to start in Britain) then what of Casamance? Of Burma or Kazakhstan? British troops are as quasi-Roman mercenaries in Parthia. Keeping the west (i.e America) safe. A pyrrhic victory. From von Clausewitz to the trenches of the Great War. Finally, can it be that a stiff upper lip is both impractical and bordering obscene a century away from the Ypres salient? 