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Passivity and withdrawal in Afghanistan is beginning to look like a short-sighted sell-out. A long-running civil war in Afghanistan will do no one any good in the long-run not even the Taliban, their henchmen in Pakistan or their ISIS and al Qaeda terrorist cronies. They will all get bogged down.

British commanders think the fight is far from over and would like to see a more dynamic approach from Britains political leadership, No10 and the Foreign Office especially.

The Biden approach, now tested on several fronts, is causing bewilderment and confusion among allies. We were assured that his foreign engagement team were thoroughly experienced and safe hands. The world would be a calmer place on their watch, as opposed to what came before under team Trump. Yet so far we seem to be getting posture without strategy or practical engagement.

Iran, under its new president Ebrahim Raisi, seems bent on testing the resolve of the US and its allies. The attack on the Mercer Street tanker last week was an escalation. The drone strike killed two crew and clearly was aimed at sinking it. The hijack on Tuesday of the Dubai-registered Asphalt Princess appears a stunt gone wrong. It is a clear sign that Tehran means to up the ante.

Biden appears to be banking on restarting the nuclear JCPOA talks a bid to re-engage Iran diplomatically, which Britain supports. But the Iranians didnt turn up to the seventh round of talks in Vienna. Meanwhile the Iranian centrifuges keep spinning.

Time for realistic strategic thinking of the kind so completely ignored in the pull-back from Afghanistan and Iraq. Four accomplished generals, Petraeus and Milley in the US, and Richards and defence chief Carter in UK, have warned about the strategy vacuum. Leaving Afghanistan to the Afghans, as Biden so inelegantly put it, is no option.

Its not even an option for the US, because whatever boils up from the international franchise extremists in Afghanistans newly ungoverned plains and mountains will surely hit us here in Europe. And it will come to America.

The generals are right to warn our political leaders about getting a grip on strategic reality.

As General Carter warns, in Afghanistan we need deterrence to avoid escalation which too often leads to miscalculation.

Strategy is no airy-fairy concept of military science from the Clausewitz laboratory. It means policy and planning for our international and national security.

Robert Fox is the Evening Standards Defence Editor

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We urgently need a strategy in Afghanistan - Evening Standard