JOHN Maples, the Tory MP, asked Harriert Harman today at PMQs to remind the House why British troops were in Afghanistan. It was an appropriate question, given that the names of seven servicemen had been added to the list of the fallen at the start of the session.

The controversy that will always surround the subject of Iraq is often extended to Afghanistan. You often hear anti-war types condemning British involvement in "Iraq and Afghanistan", as if the circumstances of our involvement were identical. 

(Remember Paul Marsden? He was the Labour MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham who defected to the LibDems shortly after troop deployment in Afghanistan. He did so because of his opposition to the war in Afghanistan. Problem was, the LibDems had supported the military intervention there as well. Poor Paul…)

There is no question over the legality of action in Afghanistan, or its legitimacy in terms of UN authorisation. Given the offensive action taken against America by a certain honoured guest of the Taleban at the time, the US had no choice but to demand bin Laden be handed over. The Taleban’s refusal to do so was in effect an invitation to the international community to invade. Which the international community rightly accepted.

So the legal basis for invasion and occupation was firmly established, as was the UN’s moral justification. But beyond the immediate necessity of bringing bin Laden to justice, there was an added reason to support the Afghan campaign: the fight against fascism.

If you persecute gays, treat women as second class citizens, rule by intimidation and violence, deny citizens the basic tenets of democracy and consider those of a different ethnicity, race or religion to be worthy of death and imprisonment, then you are a fascist. And the Taleban, being able to tick all of these boxes, were and remain fascists.

Some on the Left in Britain try to give the impression that they’re opposed to fascism while marching in support of the Taleban and Saddam’s former regime, a regime modelled deliberately on Nazism in many respects. They are liars and hypocrites. Their voices have not been listened to in this debate, and neither should they be. British soldiers are fighting and dying in the campaign to build a democratic and free Afghanistan. We should be hoping and praying for their safety and for their success against the remnants of a vile and disgusting fascist regime.