This is probably the clearest expression of western strategic aims in Afghanistan that I've read:
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown:
"...three quarters of the most serious plots against the UK have links into
these mountains. So our purpose is clear: to prevent terrorism coming
to the streets of Britain.
If, in Afghanistan, extremists return to power and once again provide a safe haven for Al Qaeda, then the same threat of global terrorism arises.
So this is a fight to clear terrorist networks from Afghanistan and Pakistan, to support the elected governments in both countries against the Taleban, to tackle the heroin trade which funds terrorism and the insurgency, and to build longer term stability."
Brown's statement goes a long way towards answering a question that I asked a while ago, about why Afghanistan should be regarded as "an important and strategic country for the west".
But it doesn't address the concern that the west's counterinsurgency campaign and nation-building effort is not sustainable. Or whether the Coalition is actually winning the fight against the Taliban, as Brown claims.
