Soldiers’ lives have been wasted in Afghanistan, says top Tory

As the country voted in its presidential elections, the former shadow home secretary called for a massive "surge" in troop numbers to prevent further British deaths.

Writing in the Standard, Mr Davis called for a major change in strategy to help bring Britain's military involvement "to a conclusion".

He said that the West should foot the bill for a six-fold increase in the size of the Afghan national army to 600,000, which would remove any doubt that the Taliban could return once Western troops pulled out.

As voting started today, three Afghan cities came under rocket attack from insurgents. The Taliban are determined to disrupt the election that is expected to return President Hamid Karzai to office. With the number of British troops killed now at 204, both Gordon Brown and David Cameron are coming under pressure to map out an exit strategy.

Mr Davis revealed that he was among the few Tories who privately expressed their doubts when British troops were sent to Helmand in 2006.

In a withering attack on Labour's handling of the war, he said that "after years of pain and over 200 British deaths" the UK was no closer to eradicating the drug trade, wiping out corruption or getting the economy on its feet. Tony Blair and Mr Brown had "wasted six years and many lives" because of a lack of resources and flawed strategy, Mr Davis said.

"This war deserves more resources, more political effort and imagination, and a clearer focus than we are currently giving it," he said. Anticipating President Obama's expected decision to make a fresh injection of troops, he called for an Iraq-style military surge "which involves a massive increase in force, to both decapitate the Taliban and deny them control of the countryside."

He said that a huge increase in Afghan army numbers would "answer the question in every Afghan mind, namely what happens when the Westerners leave? At the moment the answer to that question is the return of the Taliban."

Mr Davis said: "If we carry through this strategy, we will have a decent chance of creating a stable Afghan state, and of bringing this operation to a conclusion with honour and dignity. If we do not do it then our strategic indecision will throw away all the tactical victories that our brave young soldiers buy with their lives."