Afghanistan 29 Welsh deaths were not worth this.

29 of the 453 servicemen who lost their lives in the 13 year Afghan war were Welsh and it may be this Nation lost more as  of population than any member of the coalition who took part in Blair's bid for posterity.

It is not enough to talk about sacrifice and courage of these and all who took part as if this somehow hides the fact that this waste of lives including the Tens of Thousands of Afghani civilians who died in this war.

For nearly all that time we constantly heard  of the Green Shots of democracy growing in 

Parliamentary elections were held on September 18, 2010. In July 2010, Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. secretary-general's special representative for Afghanistan and head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), described these as the "mother of all issues" elections. "They will not be Swiss elections, they are going to be Afghan elections," he said, suggesting the event might not fit the Western definition of democracy. More than 2,600 candidates, including more than 400 women, are running for office.

During the run-up to the elections in September 2010, the Taliban intimidated villagers in certain areas from voting. People in the villages would not vote because the Taliban left night letters warning they will cut off the finger of anyone if they find it marked with the indelible ink used to prevent multiple voting.

In late November 2010, Afghanistan's election commission disqualified 21 candidates from the September 18 parliamentary elections for alleged fraudulent activities, a spokesman said. 19 of the candidates were winning or leading their races, according to partial election results, while two others had failed to win seats.

There also huge doubts whether the coalition trained Afghan army (which took 13 years to bild) can cope against the Taliban or the inevitable tribal conflict.

We must not forget the 29 Welsh soldiers in this conflict indeed all who suffered during it. But we must also not forget that it achieved nothing did not make us safer at home and I am doubtful if it has made Afghanistan safer or even close to Western standards of democracy.

We may well talk of sacrifice but sadly in years to come we wil find that this sacrifice was in vain.