Afghan victory 'could take 38 years'

British troops could remain in Afghanistan for more than the 38 years it took them to pull out of Northern Ireland. That is the bleak assessment by Army commanders on the ground in Helmand province.

In an interview with The Observer at HQ in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah, Brigadier John Lorimer, commander of UK forces in Helmand, said: 'If you look at the insurgency then it could take maybe 10 years. Counter-narcotics, it's 30 years. If you're looking at governance and so on, it looks a little longer. If you look at other counter-insurgency operations over the last 100 years then it has taken time.'

Why can’t we just leave now? Afghanistan has nothing to do with us and is taking its toll on soldiers and the country as a whole. 1 in 5 soldiers are already under stress. This is only going to increase with staying there longer which will completely destroy our fighting capabilities. We are also paying £31 a second for the Iraq war yet none are showing us any benefits. Isn’t it about time we left rather than spending billions more and destroying our army?