War objectives, Cameron's Afghanistan mission

He's also right, as the country prepares to mourn its 300th fatality in the war, to be asking the questions that he posed to UK troops last week: "Can we go further, can we go faster?"

The Prime Minister's acknowledgement that there needs to be a political settlement at the end of the current insurgency, is also a welcome acknowledgement that this conflict cannot be settled by military means alone.

Yet, while Mr Cameron, like the rest of the country, clearly wants to bring British troops home as soon as possible, he has to look at the long-term picture rather than any short-term political considerations driven by President Barack Obama's impatience, public opinion – or budgetary constraints.

As the Prime Minister stressed, "national security" is the priority. Yet this objective will not be met if Allied forces leave Afghanistan prematurely. And, given Mr Cameron's knowledge of the threat posed by al-Qaida, how does he propose to curtail the influence of the terrorist training camps in the mountainous border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan?

These are questions that still remain unresolved, despite the PM's efforts to bring some belated focus to Britain's military strategy. His promise of regular updates to the country at large is welcome – but it will only work if he can offer some policy substance to reassure the nation that British soldiers are not being killed in vain.