'Troops still have the public support' Peace expert predicts long struggle.

Byline: NEIL ATKINSON

THE sight of British soldiers flown home from Afghanistan in coffins moved the nation this week.

But a Huddersfield peace studies expert believes many will still support the British troop offensive in the war-torn country.

And Prof Paul Rogers believes it could be a long time before Britain will considering pulling out its troops, despite the growing number of casualties.

Prof Rogers, of Kirkburton, who heads the peace studies department at Bradford University, was moved like the rest of the country by the sight of the soldiers' repatriation this week.

Crowds lined the streets to see the hearses drive to Oxford from RAF Lyneham.

"The loss of life was terrible but there is a tendency among many to think that we cannot leave the conflict now. They may not support the war but they want to show support for our troops.

"The Afghan war, like the Iraq conflict, was unpopular but that was because of the politicians and not the troops. The armed forces have always had and still have a lot of respect and support from the people.

"Why are we there? I believe it dates back to 9/11 and although I have no proof, I am convinced there was a deal with the United States to get British troops out of Iraq and to lend more support to the US offensive in Afghanistan.

"We are there mainly to show solidarity with the US and of course because it is a NATO initiative.

"I believe the US were wrong to believe that after 9/11, they needed to target the Taliban in the training camps. I have always argued that it was wrong to give Al Qaida the status of terrorists; they should be treated as international war criminals.

"The US felt they need to target the training camps but those have been used simply to provide the Taliban with the people to fight their own civil war. They need not be used for terrorist training as we have seen with people from Yemen and Somalia.

"The Afghan issue poses a huge dilemma for Gordon Brown. Both he and Barack Obama find themselves in a situation not of their making, as it was a deal between Tony Blair and George Bush.

"There has to be a political solution but until we get a less corrupt government in Afghanistan, which we may have after the August elections, that is a long way off.

"The more forces we send into Afghanistan, the more the local people will see it as a foreign invasion.

"My own view is that we will have to withdraw our troops at some point but not in the immediate future. I can see us being there alongside the US forces for some time to come, although I cannot imagine Obama wanting to go into the next Presidential election in the United States in 2012 with troops still dying out in Afghanistan.

"He is a very astute politician".

CAPTION(S):

POIGNANT: A victim of the Afghan conflict comes home and (below) peace expert Prof Paul Rogers