Soviet Generals: NATO will rout from Afghanistan: "British troops will be forced to flee Afghanistan, say former Soviet commanders who oversaw Moscow's disastrous campaign against the mujahideen in the 1980s.

"In a withering assessment of the "hopeless" campaign being waged there, they have told The Sunday Telegraph that mounting casualties will drive out Britain and its Nato allies. Chillingly, General Ruslan Aushev, who was injured during fighting with Mujahideen rebels, predicted: "You will flee from there.""

"Aushev believed that the Americans were attempting to pave the way for a quiet exit by asking for more soldiers from allies such as Britain and Poland. "The Americans can't have another Vietnam, so they are saving face. They will say, 'We did not withdraw; it was the Australians, the British who withdrew'."

Soviet Generals: NATO will rout from Afghanistan: "British troops will be forced to flee Afghanistan, say former Soviet commanders who oversaw Moscow's disastrous campaign against the mujahideen in the 1980s.

"In a withering assessment of the "hopeless" campaign being waged there, they have told The Sunday Telegraph that mounting casualties will drive out Britain and its Nato allies. Chillingly, General Ruslan Aushev, who was injured during fighting with Mujahideen rebels, predicted: "You will flee from there.""

"Aushev believed that the Americans were attempting to pave the way for a quiet exit by asking for more soldiers from allies such as Britain and Poland. "The Americans can't have another Vietnam, so they are saving face. They will say, 'We did not withdraw; it was the Australians, the British who withdrew'."