I have been watching the progress that the Pakistani armed forces is making against the Taliban and sit here wondering why we in the West, with all out sophisticated weapons systems, highly trained forces, money, expertise and intelligence cannot achieve what the Pakistani armed forces can achieve in a few weeks.

Have we done a 'Vietnam' all over again? Are we so dependent on weapons developed for massed armies what are as sophisticated as our own (ie Iraq, Russia or China) that we lack the ability to combat a small, flexible, guerilla army?

Today we are ALL in the process of fighing against small, flexible armed groups and our armed forces are, it would appear, unable to fight effectively against these groups.

I am stunned and appalled by the people who control our armed forces for all their obvious blindness and inability to even match the success of Pakistan in Afghanistan. If Pakistan can beat them why can't we?