Sir, Your report and interview with John Hutton (Dec 20) provide worrying evidence that our Government’s strategic assessment of its role in Afghanistan is based on a flawed perception of the situation on the ground.

There is little if any evidence that the Taleban has any active relationship with al-Qaeda — indeed, Taleban leaders have been seeking to make it clear that the link has been broken. Britain’s own intelligence assessments make it clear that the massive majority of terrorist planning and activity now originate in Pakistan.

What is more troubling is that the Government appears to think that it is still fighting the Taleban in their original form. This is misguided. Yes, the senior personnel are still the same; yes the organisation is Islamicist; and yes it it is determined to overthrow what it perceives to be a corrupt regime in Kabul. What has changed is that the Taleban, at least in the southern half of the country, have mutated into a national resistance movement dedicated to expelling foreign armies from its soil.

It is this that is swelling the ranks of the resistance with thousands of young new recruits.

The US and Britain are now facing a situation very similar to that which confronted the Soviet Union several decades ago, when the Afghan resistance eventually inflicted unacceptable losses on a much larger military force.

Mr Hutton prides himself on being a student of history. He should study the military history of the country in which British troops are currently dying. Mr Hutton is right on one thing — the Taleban are trying to outlast us. Where he is wrong is in his belief that they will fail to do so.

Dr Malcolm Cooper

Thames Ditton, Surrey

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