Coalition forces 'are fighting a lost cause against the Taliban'

British, American and other allied forces are 'fighting a lost cause' because they cannot stop the Taliban and Al Qaeda using neighbouring Pakistan as a safe haven, supply base and recruiting ground, experts warn.

Commanders on the ground are crippled by a lack of troops and helicopters, forcing them to rely on air strikes which are causing more and more civilian casualties and destroying support among ordinary Afghans and around the world.

The damning assessment is contained in a report published by the highly-respected defence think-tank Chatham House.

It will bolster mounting concerns over the Government's handling of the war in Afghanistan, where some 7,000 British personnel are locked in the fiercest military campaign the UK has fought since the Second World War.

The Chatham House study accuses the allies of failing to draw up a 'coherent strategy' combining counter-insurgency operations against the Taliban, counter-terrorism against Al Qaeda and reconstruction efforts to improve the poverty-stricken lives of ordinary Afghans.

From the very start in 2001 the allied goals were confused and divided, it claims, with America favouring a quick invasion to topple the Taliban while European countries wanted more concentration on

rebuilding and security.

As a result it was never clear how the modest numbers of troops involved were supposed to rebuild Afghanistan, and the international community 'effectively embarked upon a mission without a strategy'.

Although the Taliban was toppled in the capital Kabul six years ago, the allies have failed to build on that success.

The report, written by Chatham House fellow Timo Noetzel and Sibylle Scheipers of Oxford University, claims Nato forces are now left trying to defeat the Taliban in combat while carrying out reconstruction, counter-narcotics operations and training Afghan police and Army all at the same time.

Several Nato allies refuse even to let their troops take part in combat.

The fundamental principle of Nato solidarity is 'on the line', the report warns, and Nato looks 'increasingly fragile'.

The study also accuses the West of failing to tackle tribal warlords and their links to Afghanistan's massive heroin trade, as well as the Afghan government's 'evident linkages' to the illegal trade.

In the Commons yesterday Defence Secretary Des Browne claimed Afghanistan remained 'a noble cause'.

He told MPs the allies had made 'significant progress' since 2001 but Afghanistan remained 'fragile' and its problems would require 'decades of hard work'.

Mr Browne echoed the report's concerns over Nato, saying that some European allies were 'frankly quite disappointing' in their contribution in Afghanistan.

• They have endured one of the most dangerous tours of duty of any British Army unit since the Second World War and nine of their number never left Afghanistan alive.

But yesterday the soldiers of the Royal Anglian Regiment returned to their base in England after six months fighting the Taliban.

In a revealing insight into the ongoing Afghanistan nightmare, they told welcoming relatives that the fighting on their recent tour was the worst it had been since the war began six years ago.

Two soldiers from the regiment's 1st Battalion have been spoken of as possible Victoria Cross recipients. One of the pair, Lance Corporal Oliver Ruecker, 21, was among those reunited with family at Pirbright in Surrey yesterday.

The other prospective VC, Captain David Hicks, 26, died after refusing morphine for fatal shrapnel wounds.

At the homecoming parade was actor Ross Kemp, who had been filming in Afghanistan with the regiment, nicknamed 'the Vikings'.

"I got to know some of the lads really well," he said. "I'm incredibly proud of them."