What next in Afghanistan? -- Daniel Korski

The news coming out of Afghanistan has gone from bad to worse. Now General Sir Michael Rose, ex-SAS chief and the former commander of UN forces during the Bosnian War, believes NATO forces in Afghanistan have "reached their limit". Though he believes the insurgency can be held back by the international military campaign, NATO needs, in the ex-soldier’s view, to help form Afghan tribal militias to aid western forces and the Afghan army.

"By winning the support of the Pashtun tribes who live on both sides of the border and by developing a sympathetic understanding of their complex tribal systems, it should be possible to achieve security in the key eastern and southern areas of Afghanistan," he says.