Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, the British ambassador to Kabul and the man at the centre of embarrassing revelations exposed in the French press, is best known at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for two things.

First, he has a habit of volunteering with enthusiasm for the toughest and most dangerous posts - Tel Aviv during the Palestinian intifada, Riyadh at the height of al-Qaeda's terrorist campaign and now Kabul in the grip of a bloody insurgency.

Second, he is known for holding outspoken views, which he is not embarrassed to share with his superiors and on some memorable occasions with the press and the public (in an effort to bolster morale in Saudi Arabia he once told local residents that Nottingham was more dangerous than Riyadh).

We will probably never know the real version of the conversation that took place early last month between him and Francois Fitou, the French charge d'affaires in Kabul, who wrote the diplomatic cable published by the Canard Enchaine.

Some quotes attributed to Sir Sherard may have been "exaggerated", as the FCO insists, and others, like the call for a dictator to take over in Kabul or that more Nato troops may be counter-productive, may have been completely untrue.

But what is indisputable is the conclusion, certainly shared by Sir Sherard, that the Nato-led campaign in Afghanistan is not working and that the policy urgently needs to be reviewed.

In the past three years, the Taleban has become stronger and increased its control over large parts of southern Afghanistan. The government of President Hamid Karzai is increasingly corrupt, isolated and mistrusted by its people.

The West is also to blame. The divided command structure of Nato and US forces has hampered the military campaign. So, too, has the failure of key Nato members, like Germany and Italy, to share the burden of the fighting.

The reconstruction effort has also been dismal, with the failure of rival aid agencies to coordinate their operations and a reluctance to work on development projects alongside the military.

Events across the border in Pakistan, where various militant groups including the Taleban and al-Qaeda are thriving in the lawless tribal areas, have seriously complicated the situation. No solution in Afghanistan is possible without a solution in Pakistan.

On Tuesday, Sir Sherard was in London meeting General David Petraeus, the outgoing commander of US forces in Iraq, who next month becomes head of US Central Command, which includes responsibility for the war in Afghanistan.

The British diplomat was expected to tell the American general that Afghanistan was "not going off a cliff" but that the downward spiral had to be halted and the current policy reviewed. President Bush has already ordered a high-level review. Gen Petraeus, credited with turning around the situation in Iraq, will now have an even tougher mission on his hands.

If he ever needs some straight-talking from a diplomat on the spot, he will know who to turn to.

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