The debate over Afghanistan is joined in the UK after five British troops were shot dead this week by a three-year veteran of the Afghan National Police inside a secure checkpoint, and Kim Howells, an ex-Foreign Office minister who formerly supported the war effort, came up with a proposal titled "Bring the troops home to fight Al Qaeda in Britain."

War as nation-building stands exposed as murderous folly. And the British strategy, which dovetails with our own, is revealed for all its vicious circularity. As the Telegraph writes:

The shooting marked a dreadful new chapter in Britain’s eight-year engagement in Afghanistan, as it was the first time British soldiers had been shot by a rogue member of the Afghan forces they hope will one day take over the entire responsibility for the country’s security.

This is reminiscent of our whole post-9/11 military strategy, all predicated on hopes of Western-style cooperation spontanously manifesting itself on the part of Islamic "allies." Question: When did the US (and by extension the British) shift ultimate responsibility for victory in war onto factors -- peoples -- beyond our own control?