Afghanistan: Why are we there and what's the future?

Why are we there?

It started on 11 September 2001 with the attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York. The attacks were planned from training camps in Afghanistan.

Two months later British troops went into Afghanistan alongside American and other Nato forces.

The goal was to topple the hardline Taliban regime which allowed al-Qaeda to train and operate.

Then Prime Minister Tony Blair announced: "We have set the objectives - to eradicate Osama Bin Laden's network of terror and to take action against the Taliban regime which is sponsoring him."

The war quickly drove the Taliban out of the capital Kabul but Bin Laden slipped away - it's thought across the border to Pakistan - and the mission changed.

Elections took place and a new government was formed with Hamid Karzai as elected president of Afghanistan.

International troops stayed on and the idea was to help rebuild the country and train the new Afghan army.

But it hasn't been straightforward. The war led to a huge increase in drug production. Afghanistan now makes 90% of the world's heroin, which has, in turn, bred corruption and violence.

Nato Commander in Afghanistan Richard Blanchette says the money from this kind of activity is used to buy ammunition and suicide vests.

And the Taliban hasn't gone away - its leaders escaped to the tribal areas of Pakistan.

The nature of the fighting has also changed. Suicide strikes and home-made bombs are now the main threats facing British troops.

What is the new coalition government planning to do about Afghanistan?

One of the first things the new government said it would do was to cut public spending by £6bn this year to start paying back the UK's record recession debt but they say any savings in the military budget will be pushed towards the front line.

Troops in Afghanistan have been saying their kit's improved in recent years and it doesn't look like they've got reason to worry about cuts now.

There is a change in focus at the top though. The new government's set up a formal National Security Council, made up of senior ministers, military bosses and senior secret service people.

They're talking not so much about Afghanistan on its own now, but also about Pakistan - another Taliban stronghold, and a place where western targets are being attacked.

Now the question is much less, 'What do we do about Afghanistan now?' and more, 'What do we do to protect the UK?'

When will troops be able to pull out of Afghanistan?

The aim remains to try to get the country's own government, police and military to a state where they can run things on their own.

That means firstly recruiting, training and strengthening those local police and troops, and secondly weakening the influence of the Taliban so they're not a threat.

So there's no clear timeline but US President Obama said recently he wants Afghans to "to take the lead" from next year.