WHEN you join the British armed services you give up the right as an individual to decide for yourself who your enemies are.

In effect, you become an instrument of the state, to go where you are sent anywhere in the world and to fight against whoever the government of the day decides is our enemy.

In Afghanistan, tribal factions and war lords have been fighting each other for more than 2,000 years.

They only stop fighting each other and join forces when a foreign army invades their country, such as the occupation by the Soviet Union in the 1970s, the British occupation in the 19th Century and Alexander the Great's invasion in about 350 BC.

When the invader has left they return to their tribal groups and factions and resume fighting each other. This is why I believe it is not possible to introduce a Western style of democracy there. It will not last.

I believe that in fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, the British armed services are fighting a war of containment and not a war that can be won.

Keith Dewison, Billingham.