Paddy did a very, very poor job in Bosnia and is remembered well only by fundamentalists in Bosnia and their supporters outside.
It was a way-too-big job for him, and Afghanistan would be even bigger.
By the way, what are our troops doing in Afghanistan anyhow? Bin Laden is not there, taliban is strong as ever, drugs production/export keeps growing - so why waste lives of brave boys.
The only solution for Afghanistan is to seal their borders, send them food and tractors and let Karzai sort it out.

Savo, London, UK

What is going on?

Brown and Miliband need to get a grip. We are being soundly thrashed internationally. Time we did some thrashing of our own.

We're getting it from all sides - Russia is mocking us; we are being criticized for our troops' performance in Iraq and Afghanistan.

If Karzai wants our troops to withdraw, just say so. But many UK and US troops have died to give his country a chance for peace and democracy - please do not dishonour that.

Hey I've got an idea - why doesn't Karzai use Afghanistani troops to clean out the Taliban? Oh wait a minute - he hasn't got enough troops and whatever few he has got cannot really fight.

What about other European troops such as France? I forgot - they do not want to get involved! At least we stepped up.

Jules, London,

The history of Afghanistan has been wriitten in copious amounts of British blood since the early 1800's, and its sovreignity has long been disputed by Russia. A visit to British Cathedrals and local Minsters will reveal thousands upon thousands of dedications to our military personnel who so bravely gave their lives for nothing in that God-forsaken country until Queen Victoria realising the worthlessness and folly of our manouvres there brought them home. It is looking very much that the word "folly" - will be reserved ever more - for Bush, Blair and now Brown.

Robert El-Cid., Hull., East Yorks.,

What with this and Karzai's negative comments about the contributions the UK troops are making, perhaps time to withdraw (I don't think we should be there in any case).

That way, Karzai would be shown for what he is - lacking country-wide support in Afghanistan and there only because he's being propped up by US/NATO troops. Without that support, he'd last about a day before "his" people killed him.

Clive, Epsom, England

Why should he not be able to decide whom he wants, or does not want, for an envoy? It's his country, not ours.

Julia Iskandar, London, England

Laurence, Rock Hill, I think you have slightly misled readers with your comments.
True, the Taliban did significantly cut the production of opium as you stated, but it was not for the general good of mankind. They had been getting a significant cut of the money from drugs, but were angry at reducing revenues. They cut production to force producers to support them and to raise the price of their own opium. On this issue of opium being bought by the west legally, this suggestion has been put forward hundreds of times and dismissed as many. It just simply would not work, because the world doesn't need that much opiate, the farmers would not look for other livelihoods and the nation just would not progress economically.

DLL, Brussels,

I supported our actions in Iraq and Afghanistan and still do - because of treaty obligations - but now have serious reservations about any successfull outcome after seeing the results of our involvement.

We are constantly told that we have the best soldiers in the world who, in contrast to the Americans, understand these conflicts, vis Northern Ireland and our 'softly softly' approach, compared to the gung ho approach of the 'simplistic' Americans.

Well, we lost control of Basra - though reading our press it was a victory - and, according to the Americans and the President of Afghanistan, we lost control of Helmand province, too. That area had to be retaken by Afghan, American, us and other coalition forces which created unnecessary extra casualties, two of which were Danish from our 'friendly' fire.

Our military leaders seem never to have got over the 'Montgomery' complex in their dealings with Americans ie Christ come to cleanse the temple.

Melaragni, London,

The Government in Canada is telling us that those who oppose the mission in Afghanistan just don't get it.

Although it appears many in Canada are saying the same as George in London and Ollie in Manchester...

Perhaps, it is the "New Government of Canada" that just doesn't get it...

Robert Miller, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Afghanistan
7,800 troops deployed
£738m spent by British armed forces in Afghanistan 2006-07
87 troops dead since 2001
Fighting for what?
Northern Rock
4811 employess engaged (31/12/06)
£28billion spent by the government on Nothern Rock (2007-08).
Employee bonuses £200 plus 2%
Funding for what?

Peter George, Weston super Mare, UK

The comment by Mercer:-
"On behalf of the nine dead friends from my former battalion, killed in Helmand, I resent what President Karzai said.”
Really is only a stupid political spin and does not answer the statement made by Karzai.
Our boys should be brought home and cease fighting in foreign lands for corrupt regimes.
Ashdown, just another crony with dubious skills.

Dave Madley, Alicante, Spain

So Karzai doesn't think that the our Troops are doing a good job does he? Let's withdraw then and leave him to run his basket case country all by himself.

Carl, London,

Paddy Ashdown took no part in Iraq. I think John from Colombo was referring to Paul Bremner - the US Envoy to Iraq. I thought Paddy had done rather well for the role he played in Bulkans...

ds, london,

Clearly, Afghanistan was not invaded in 2001 for the purpose of controlling opium production. During the Taliban's reign, they had actually done a very effective job of slashing opium production by nearly 90%, as the year 2001 began (and this is based on UN stats). The overthrow of the Taliban has reversed all of that, and then some.
In addition, since opium can obviously be put to state-sanctioned use as medicine, why can't the West simply buy up the Afghan opium production every year? The cost (in $$ and lives) might be surprisingly small, since Afghan opium farmers are said to receive only a few pennies from every dollar of black market sales. The opium could be stored or turned into medicine for distribution among the poorest nations (which are always said to have dire shortages of pain and anti-diarrheal medicines - for which opium and some of its derivatives are nearly ideal). In fact, diarrhea is often claimed to be the number one killer of small children in the 3rd world.

Laurence, Rock Hill, South Carolina / USA

If any politician had read up on Anglo-Afghan history we would never have sent our troops into Afghanistan in the first place. Let them sort their own society out just as we had to do 400 years ago, and get our troops out now.

Peter, Newbury, England

Well this is just typical, the little tin pot president now thinks he's something special and is now making demands.
Lest he forget who got him where he is!

Oi! The Spotters, St Albans, England

Paddy Asshdown?
Look at the mess left in Iraq by Paddy Bremner.
Ashdown has no record of running a business or anything other than the failed Liberal party that will never form a government in UK.
These countries need Muslim envoys not Paddys.
The only trouble is that Muslim diplomats might not be as pliable to the US as the Paddy's.

john, colombo , sri lanka

The president backed a rather crooked governor prior to Wafa, that the British made him fire. This governor was both a friend to the Karzai family (there are three brothers involved in Afghan politics, the president, Hamid Wali and Qayaam) but he was widely suspected of being involved in the drug trade...what a surprise. Perhaps with the loss of Musa Qala, an area also associated with the drug trade, the president is trying to get his man back in; hence the criticism of both the British and Americans. Karzai fears real reform hence one reason to block Mr Ashdown. Read Graeme Smith's article in the Globe and Mail for further insight into Karzai's current standing.

R C, Ottawa, Canada

Well it now shows - neither side of the Afghan belligerents actually cares about the lives of British troops.

Then again, I feel that Tony and his cronies do not either.

Time to bring them home. What a waste of tax payers cash.

Ollie, Manchester, UK

Some should remind Karzai the old saying "don't bite the hand that feeds you". Maybe he sees this new appointment of UN Special Envoy might threaten their lucrative poppy trade.

What a waste of UK taxpayer's money supporting this Kabul government.

george, london, uk

Perhaps the long dead victims of the English adventures in the area are whispering in the ears, it turns out that history does matter.

wpo, warsaw, n.y.