Daily View: Afghanistan troops

Last night, Gordon Brown announced his intention of setting up a timetable to withdraw from Afghanistan. Here are some responses:

Guardian assistant editor Simon Tisdall suggests what Gordon Brown should aim for in the upcoming meeting with Nato:

"Brown should set aside his mis-targeted fixation with al-Qaida, a much diminished threat. Instead, he or his successor should be pressing for more focused, better defined use of Nato military power to protect Kabul and other main population centres and key trade and communications routes."

The Telegraph leader column disagrees with Tisdall, naming al-Qaeda as our greatest threat and welcoming the proposed Nato conference:

"If the Nato mission in Afghanistan fails, it will encourage jihadis throughout the Middle East and the sub-continent, destabilise Pakistan and undermine the embryonic anti-clerical movement in Iran, a country whose nuclear ambitions remain the other great foreign policy headache."

Former High Commissioner to Pakistan Sir Hilary Synnott tells The World Tonight:

"The ultimate objective cannot just be to leave Afghanistan. It must be, as the prime minister has emphasised, to weaken the Taliban, to prevent the re-emergence of al-Qaeda and to prevent al-Qaeda's supporters claiming a defeat on our part. That would be the worst possible outcome."

Also in the Telegraph, political correspondent James Kirkup asks whether, in his rush to assure voters of progress in Afghanistan, Brown risks putting that very progress in jeopardy. The Mirror welcomes Gordon Brown's announcement and says it is recognition of public unease at a seemingly unending war.

• Simon Tisdall | Guardian | Whatever Obama decides, Brown must set withdrawal date
• Leader | Telegraph | Al-Qaeda: the greatest threat
• James Kirkup | Telegraph | Are we winning or running away? Or both?
• Sir Hilary Synnott | The World Tonight
• Voice of the Mirror | Convince the public
• Guardian | Britain's future role in Afghanistan: Six experts give their view
• Richard North | Defence of the Realm | Bad Idea
• NIck Robinson | BBC | Afghanistan ifs and maybes
• Peter Hoskin | Spectator | Brown misjudges the Afghanistan waiting game