The Spectator’s Notes | 26 September 2009

Last week at Policy Exchange, the think tank of which I am chairman, General David Petraeus gave a fascinating lecture about what we are now not allowed to call the War on Terror. He spoke tactfully, but between the lines I thought I read a feeling that the fight in Afghanistan is in the balance. This made him emphatic in his praise of British troops: he can see the political dangers if we withdraw, he needs more of our men, and he wants this to be clear to a new Tory government. Now the Washington Post has leaked the views of the general on the spot, Stanley McChrystal. He sounds almost desperate for a greater US effort. The fact is that the Obama administration, having tried to reassure those anxious about withdrawal from Iraq by saying how important Afghanistan is, has not really followed up. It backed the re-election of Karzai despite British anxieties about his uselessness, and now appears not to have the will for what is needed next.