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Gordon Brown is drawing a line in the sand, or rather the dust of Helmand, with the long expected announcement that he is to increase the number of British troops in Afghanistan - for a limited period.
The fact that the increase is modest, roughly 500 or the equivalent of a battalion battle group, smacks of a strategy of muddling through rather than a bold initiative.
Government officials are anxious to explain that, rather than mission creep, the reinforcement is to help set conditions for a realistic timetable for a withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in a matter of a few years.
This is understandable. The public is weary and wary of the confusions of our politicians over Afghanistan. The party conference round revealed just how difficult they find to spell out why we are in Afghanistan, what we hope to achieve, the real cost, and how and when it will all end.
As keen as the Government is to set limits on the venture, Mr Brown should be challenged to explain why he is offering far fewer troops than the 2,000 requested by the Army.
It is no secret that the Army wanted the troops for the next phase of the accelerated training programme of Afghan army and police units. More troops are needed to establish a firmer presence in main centres such as Lashkar Gah, Gereshk, Sangin, Kajaki and Musa Qala. The thinness of the British presence in Sangin this summer put the 80 or so soldiers of the 2nd Battalion the Rifles under intolerable pressure and risk. They paid for it in blood, and it is surprising that their situation has not become the subject of public inquiry.
At least Gordon Brown has decided to order in the extra troops now - unlike Barack Obama who was asked for an extra 40,000 troops by his commander in Afghanistan, General McChrystal, six weeks ago.
The British reinforcement is supposed to mesh in with the new McChrystal concept of operations.
However, McChrystal and his boss General Petraeus are facing a whispering campaign, not only from neo-con spin that Bush, Rumsfeld and Co were let down by the generals, but from within the administration.
It is a back him or sack him moment for Obama and McChrystal. It is time for the president to get off the fence - not only for his sake but for the allied forces awaiting his lead, and not least for the Afghans themselves.
