Commentary: 'Support for Afghan war wavering'

Gordon Brown and the Ministry of Defence have been galvanised to urgent thought - if not action - on Afghanistan as they have woken up to the fact that it could be a losing issue in the general election.

Somewhat amazingly, the MoD has now designated Afghanistan as "the main point of effort for the ministry and the armed forces it commands". To come to this conclusion after nearly eight years of combat, in which 214 service personnel have died, seems almost casual.

The problem for Mr Brown is that the public is becoming as sceptical about Afghanistan as they were about Iraq. They don't like wars of choice because they feel it is not them making the choices. There is remarkable evidence for this in a poll published today by the National Army Museum.

In the survey of more than 2,000 people, the majority believe the role of the Army is to defend Britain, British territory and associated interests in that order.

More than half (60 per cent) do not believe the Army should have been sent to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Interestingly the majority support the forces - and 64 per cent said they would actively back their child, boy or girl, if they decided to enlist.

There is a warning to all the major parties in this. The public increasingly feels that the forces in Afghanistan have got a tough deal.

All three major parties are talking about cutting defence budgets to ease the £175billion deficit in public finances. But if this means making the thin red line of our defence forces thinner, then the public won't wear it. And they may well say so through the ballot box next May.