If we're talking about the wider issues of where and how our forces should become embroiled in conflicts, then I have to ask what seems to be a rather obvious question:-
Given that our armed forces are ultimately tasked with the defence and security of the United Kingdom, on what basis does our government see fit to send them to places like Iraq and Afghanistan?
I don't think anyone buys the government-spin argument that Afghanistan is somehow darkly fostering terrorism any more than any other dodgy state, in the same way that nobody now accepts the ridiculous notion that Iraq is (or ever was) a threat to the United Kingdom. It's all very well showing TV pictures of smiling happy people in Afghan villages after they've supposedly been "liberated" (or whatever else it is that we've supposed to have done for them) but when is so much as one journalist going to step-back and ask what any of this has got to do with the United Kingdom?
As somebody said some time ago, the future of these countries and the people in them might be a subject of international concern, but ultimately they're certainly not worth the life of so much as one British serviceman - it's that simple.
Why is it that it's British forces that are stuck in the most dangerous area of Afghanistan? How come every other country heroically manages to avoid putting their forces in there, and yet we're evidently expected to believe that there's a terrorist risk specific to our country, but presumably no similar risk to any other country, otherwise you'd assume they'd all be struggling to get their forces in there to help us out?
It's complete nonsense. Okay, the armed forces are obliged to do as their potitical masters tell them, but what on earth has happened to independant journalism? Where are the people to say it's time we got ourselves out of all this rubbish and stopped collectively wringing our hands in despair at the fate of nations for which we have no responsibility. Lord knows we've already done more than enough, so I really don't see why the government can't finally accept that we just don't have the resources to fight other people's battles. Fundamentally, the government is failing in its responsibility to defend our own country - we're busy defending other people's countries (under the false impression that this somehow defends us by proxy) meanwhile Putin is busy threatening to cut-off fuel supplies here, there and everywhere, and re-direct nuclear ICBM's at us...
It's a complete joke which would be funny if it wasn't so tragic for all the people who have already lost their lives for absolutely nothing.