The recent cowardly shooting by an Afghan “police trainee”, causing five deaths and five seriously injured British soldiers, not forgetting another two recently killed by bombs, raises questions about the tactics being applied in Afghanistan.

There are approximately 95,000 Afghan “police”. The posts are scattered around Afghanistan, sometimes in very isolated places. It is well known that the force is riddled with corruption and disloyalty, with members even selling their weapons, supplied by the UN, to the Taliban for profit. Many admit the regular salary is the main reason for joining and cannot be relied on to face up to a direct Taliban confrontation.

Highly trained professional men and women of the British forces are being used to “train” these Afghans, from many tribes, in the ways of security. There can only ever be a comparative few of the 95,000 who will complete the “training”, and no guarantee that they will not revert to pre-training behaviour afterwards.

This use or our heroic men and women is claimed by the Government as the way to go towards the eventual withdrawal of British forces from Afghanistan. Surely this is a fragile and truly unbelievable reason. There is even an implication that the original intention to defeat the Taliban and install a strong democratic government will not be resolved successfully.

Do we really need a reason to leave that is any better than recent events?

J Beisly, Osprey Close, York.

• I RECENTLY heard Gordon Brown saying on TV that once the police and soldiers in Afghanistan have been fully trained by the American and English soldiers to defend their country and fight against the Taliban, then our troops can come home.

Forgive me if I’m being a bit thick, but don’t all the police and soldiers in that country know how to use a gun? In fact, every man, woman and child in that country probably knows how to shoot someone. Let their government deal with their fight.

When an Afghan so-called police officer shoots British soldiers, it’s time to rethink the situation. If a British soldier accidentally or otherwise shot an Afghan police officer there would be hell on. But our Government just sits back and accepts all these deaths and comes out with normal political balderdash excuse to justify the situation.

Gordon Brown says terrorism needs to be controlled at the borders of Afghanistan and that British soldiers are protecting Britain and fighting for our country by being in Afghanistan. The Afghan government knows the score: let them control their own borders, and let us control ours.

It seems to me, all these years on, that the Taliban are the ones who are winning and making a mockery of the rest of the world.

A Logan, Tennent Road, York.