Britain has sleepwalked into a fierce military engagement in Helmand province in Afghanistan, blind to the strategic consequences of doing so. When we first deployed troops in the province, the Defence Secretary at the time said he “hoped” they would be out without firing a shot. Since then, our troops have had to be reinforced and now find themselves holding the line between the Kabul Government and the Taleban.

The British Army is fighting a war on two fronts with resources depleted by defence cuts. Not surprisingly, the military chiefs decided something had to give – and the powers that be chose Iraq. The Iraq war is unpopular at home and the pressure for more troops and equipment in Afghanistan grows daily. Afghanistan v Iraq: it’s a “no brainer”. Or is it?

Of course, supporting the fledgeling democratic Government in Kabul is important; but Iraq is much more strategically vital. It is galling that after all the hard work our forces have put in to stabilising Iraq, their withdrawal should be seen by the world as a retreat. But by failing to get the balance of priorities right between Iraq and Afghanistan we have only ourselves to blame.

The UK is America’s most capable ally in Iraq. Other Western nations such as Germany and France steadfastly refuse to be involved militarily, citing their opposition to the war – although the recent foiled bomb plots in Germany show that that cuts no ice with al-Qaeda. However, France and Germany supported the Afghan war and, given our commitment in Iraq, their forces should now be deployed in Helmand province, not ours. Yet they won’t do their bit. The British Government should have been raising merry hell with them every time our ministers meet, telling them their failure to face up to their responsibilities is shameful. Yet little seems to happen.

It is strange that, at the moment General Petraeus is demonstrating that the surge in US forces is yielding results in Baghdad and beyond, the British seem to quit the field. It sends all the wrong signals to the insurgents and Iran, which stands to gain enormously from the British departure. This is a strategic mistake at a time when we are trying to apply international pressure on Iran to stop developing nuclear weapons.

The problems in Iraq are great but the rewards for success are also huge. Al-Qaeda has thrown everything into Iraq and to show it can be beaten would send shockwaves around the world. A democratic Iraq is a challenge to the violent ideology of militant Islam, and would stabilise the whole region in a way Afghanistan cannot. After all the superhuman effort over the past few years, a precipitate British withdrawal, which has its roots in our appallingly underfunded and undermanned army, makes no sense.

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