Another grim milestone of UK fatalities in Afghanistan

Their deaths brought the number of UK troops killed since the US-led invasion in 2001 to 100. Altogether, more than 800 NATO and US soldiers have died in the present Afghan conflict.

On June 10, two more soldiers from the same regiment were shot dead on foot patrol in southern Afghanistan. Their names have yet to be revealed, but the announcement means that it took less than 48 hours for the UK fatality rate of 100already considered a significant landmarkto be superseded.

Announcement of their deaths was followed by the usual glib official messages of condolences, each one vying with the previous for some clumsy notion of justification.

Commenting on the three fatalities, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said, They have paid the ultimate price, but they have achieved something of lasting valuehelping turn a lawless region sheltering terrorists into an emerging democracy.

But Anthony Philippson, the father of Captain Jim Philippson, 29, of 7 Parachute Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery, who was among the first UK soldiers to die in Helmand in 2006, questioned such official optimism. He stressed that the recent deaths would not be the last. It was inevitable. Its not going to get better, its going to get worse, he said. I think it is going to turn out as big a disaster as Iraq.