Britain is at war in Afghanistan. It does not feel like it for a population for whom the concept of war remains defined by the second world war with its millions of deaths and bombs falling on London. But war it is.
Giving evidence to the Iraq inquiry last week, when asked what lessons I thought we should learn, I expressed my fear that because of the controversies surrounding the communication of the Iraq war, we had already learnt the wrong lessons for our handling of Afghanistan. Political and military leaders know why we are there, but too often members of the public say they do not. That is a failure of strategic communications, not military planning or execution. Despite the controversies of Iraq, I believe the job of big picture communication is more, not less important.
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