An illustration of how fraught the situation has become for British troops in Afghanistan is provided by The Herald today. As we report, the death of a Royal Marine in Helmand province yesterday brings the number of troops killed in action in Afghanistan to 63 in the past 18 months; only three fewer than in Iraq over the same period.

It is the bloodshed in Iraq that tends to dominate the headlines but the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan is also taking a toll on British, other Nato and American troops. The British forces, part of a Nato exercise, are engaged in an operation against Taliban insurgents which is part of an economic battle aimed, ultimately, at winning Afghani hearts and minds. Water, harnessed to irrigate Afghanistan's degraded agricultural systems, is key to the country's economic reconstruction. The UN has estimated that productivity could be doubled on the land at present farmed and another 10% (some 24,000 square miles) could be brought under the plough by successful irrigation.

Afghanistan has the water to exploit in rainfall from its mountain ranges but only some 15% is successfully harnessed. Without effective irrigation, a mainstream agricultural economy cannot be developed to compete with illicit poppy production, which breeds crime and corruption and strengthens the Taliban and other jihadis. The operation to clear insurgents from the area around the Kajaki Dam in Helmand is symbolic of what the US and Nato troops are trying to achieve in Afghanistan and of what the Taliban desperately want not to happen. Securing the area and repairing the dam would improve the lives and livelihoods of more than one million Afghanis. A failed mission would serve the purposes of the Taliban and al Qaeda and its proxies, which are intent on turning Afghanistan into a failed state where the western allies would be sucked dry in a so-called bleeding war.

That outcome must be avoided. Given the increase in lawlessness and the worsening security situation (the Taliban yesterday shot dead a second Korean Christian hostage), it is difficult to imagine how without additional troop deployment. America should take the lead to encourage Nato to increase its commitment and, perhaps, bring partners from Mediterranean Muslim countries on board. But the US is tied up in Iraq (a bleeding war?), as to a lesser degree is Britain. Taking the eye off Afghani- stan at a critical point to invade Iraq seems even more of a folly in light of current developments.