We can't leave Afghanistan until the terror threat has been eradicated

It was simply a matter of time before the faint hearts in New Labour started calling for the withdrawal of our troops from Afghanistan, and now Kim Howells, the former Foreign Office minister has duly obliged.

I can’t quite recall precisely what Mr Howells accomplished when he had responsibility for the Middle East and Afghanistan, which says it all, really.

But his siren call to withdraw from Afghanistan, on a day when another five British soldiers have lost their lives, is typical of the defeatism that now defines this government’s approach to a this conflict. And because of the mess the government has made of explaining what we are doing there I suspect there are many who are tempted to agree with Mr Howells.

But to pull out now would be a serious mistake, and would seriously jeopardise our national security. If we left now the Taliban and its al-Qaeda allies would simply return their old hunting ground, and use it as a base to devise their diabolical schemes to blow us up. Is that really what you want, Mr Howell?