Prime Minister Gordon Brown has come under fire from former defence chiefs who have criticised his Afghanistan strategy and questioned his support for British troops there.

During a House of Lords debate, Chief of the Defence Staff Field Marshal Lord Inge said the armed forces had never really believed the prime minister was "on their side".

General Lord Guthrie, also a former CDS, accused Mr Brown of "dithering" over his pledge to send an extra 500 troops to Afghanistan and said the government had failed to provide adequate numbers of helicopters to prevent the loss of British lives.

The criticism came after a key speech on Afghanistan from Mr Brown, hastily arranged at the end of a bloody week for UK forces there.

Mr Brown said it was "simply wrong" to say troops were not getting the support they need and that he was determined to do everything necessary to protect them.

He warned the Kabul government that he will not put UK troops "in harm's way for a government that does not stand up against corruption", but again staunchly defended the mission, saying it is vital for UK security.

Tonight, Michael Crick will be looking at the Downing Street's increasingly uncomfortable relationship with retired generals and assessing whether Mr Brown's speech will have done enough to ease concerns about the operation in Afghanistan.

Also tonight, Richard Watson will be digging into the past of Major Nidal Malik Hasan, who allegedly opened fire at Fort Hood killing 13 people and injuring 30.

US President Barack Obama has warned against "jumping to conclusions" about the US-born Muslim's motivation.

But what did cause an army psychiatrist, whose job it was to help traumatised and injured US troops, turn assailant?

AND HERE IS KIRSTY WARK WITH WHAT IS COMING UP ON NEWSNIGHT REVIEW:

And on Newsnight Review tonight I'll be getting to the dark heart of the week's cultural offerings along with my guests Kim Newman, Sarah Churchwell and Matthew Sweet.

Hammer Horror lives again with a retrospective in London and two new films currently in production.

We look at how the horror landscape has changed since the last Hammer film 30 years ago.

Does Jennifer's Body, unusually written and directed by women, challenge the gender stereotypes of the genre?

And does the success in America of the low budget film Paranormal Activity, soon to be released over here, mean a return to more psychological values in horror after the so-called "torture porn" gruesomeness of recent years?

On stage, the gore of the early 20th Century Grand Guignol theatre is revived in a new work by Carl Grose. Can the horrors of previous generations only ever be played for laughs?

And Paul Auster tells us how he scared himself writing his new work Invisible, a dark page turner of murder, incest, lies and illusion.

Join us at 11pm.

But although he did lay out some new ideas, such as setting five benchmarks for improved performance by the Afghan government, the prime minister was limited to spinning the rhetorical rotors without actually taking flight.

The thing that has grounded him and other Nato leaders is the continued absence of a clear line from Washington.

How could Mr Brown have been more adamant about the current counter-insurgency strategy or the need for more troops to execute it, if he knows that at any time the White House might change its mind?

President Barack Obama received the McChrystal report calling for a troop surge on 30 August, and with each week that passes without a decision the political difficulties of his allies across Nato multiply.

When Britain announced in mid-October that it would, if certain conditions were met, send another 500 troops to Afghanistan, Whitehall felt it was on a promise from the Obama team.

As Newsnight reported at the time, one top insider suggested not just that Britain had been promised there would be a substantial US reinforcement, but that it would be General Stanley McChrystal's option of around 45,000 troops, and that its announcement was imminent.

So what does he say now? When asked recently, my contact characterised the continued lack of a clear statement of the way ahead from Mr Obama as, "disgraceful".

These views, given non-attributably, are simpler a stronger version of what one can see in the public domain.

Back in October Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, Britain's senior serviceman, insisted that the Allies were still all committed to the counter-insurgency strategy and that he was, "confident" he knew which way the US would go on the troop increase question.

In the absence of an announcement, confidence in ministries from Ottawa to Berlin is faltering.

"What is the goal? What is the road? and in the name of what?" asked French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner earlier this week, adding menacingly, "Where are the Americans? It begins to be a problem".

Field Marshal Lord Inge, speaking in a defence debate in the House of Lords earlier on Friday said the US' delay sent, "a very bad message".

Talking to Nick Horne earlier this week, home after several years working as an official for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in Kabul, he reckoned the Obama administration had carried out seven different reviews of Afghan policy.

From their electoral victory one year ago to the present, Afghan policy has been in a state of flux.

The criticism is not simply code for "Why doesn't Obama just get on with the troop increase"?

There are plenty in European governments who would be delighted if the president announced that the US intends to withdraw from Afghanistan as quickly as possible.

What people want is a decision.

Now the White House is suggesting that there could be an announcement in a fortnight's time. So the present limbo is set to continue.

It is all the stranger because Mr Obama has not yet endorsed the strategy set out in the McChrystal report, something Nato defence ministers did at a meeting two weeks ago.

The US' own defence secretary, Robert Gates, has called publicly for the matter to be resolved swiftly.

Some Obama supporters have stressed the importance of measuring such vital life and death decisions carefully.

Gen McChrystal himself has been loyal enough to his commander in chief to echo them, remarking that it is better it be done properly than rapidly.

The shambolic outcome of the Afghan presidential elections has complicated matters politically, but it hardly de-railed some great policy juggernaut that had been careering along smoothly until then.

Looking though at the succession of reviews and the tangled logic in the one definitive presidential statement on "Af-Pak strategy" given back at the end of March, it is evident that the administration has had great difficulty deciding what it thinks about the Afghan conflict.

Instead we have witnessed what people in Whitehall describe with increasing frankness as a failure of leadership.

The shadow foreign secretary William Hague spoke to us last night about the Conservative party's decision not to hold a Lisbon Treaty referendum. He defended the Tory pledge to claw back power from the EU if elected, a policy French government minister Pierre Lellouche called "pathetic". Mr Lellouche has since said that he is prepared to "live with" whatever policy the UK had on Europe. But how are we going to be perceived in Europe and beyond if the Conservatives come to power at the next election?

Security forces in the Iranian capital, Tehran used batons and tear gas to disperse opposition supporters yesterday, witnesses and state media reported. Tonight we have a very strong interview with an Iranian opposition protestor about the brutal treatment inflicted upon him while in prison.

Emily's sore throat has got the better of her, so Gavin's stepped in. Join him at 10.30pm on BBC Two.

So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye.

Promises of a referendum on the Lisbon treaty are now gone, defunct, deceased etc. But, if you thought the Tories would present that fact with the tail between their legs you have another think coming. No hint of apology from David Cameron today. Instead, fresh promises (some might call them cast iron guarantees) of a public vote on future treaties and indeed a pledge that British courts of law would hold sway over Europe. Can he promise this? Will anyone in Europe listen if he does?

Tonight, William 'wewillnotletmattersrestthere' Hague will join us. We'll ask if the Tories can still win the trust of the British public when they make pledges on Europe.

But first, a week that started badly in Afghanistan - with the return to power of a corrupt government - just got much, much worse. Today, five British soldiers were shot dead by the very policeman they were helping to train. Tonight we ask if the whole strategy of empowering and training up the Afghan army has been undermined by today's dreadful events. And we explore whether politicians are getting cold feet about the mission. Former minister Kim Howells says it would be better to 'bring home the vast majority of our men and women there and use the money saved to secure our own borders'. Do others tacitly agree with him?

The party leaders are united about one thing - a wish to appease Christopher Kelly with whatever he suggests on new rules for MPs' expenses. We'll be looking into the changes and how quickly they will be implemented.

And our Dragons' Den style Politics Pen returns (watch the trailer here). This time we're giving Newsnight viewers a chance to face our political animals and pitch their policy ideas on how we can raise more money from taxation. You can read more from one of the political animals, Patience Wheatcroft - who's the editor-in-chief of The Wall Street Journal Europe here.

Do join us on BBC Two at 10.30pm.
Emily

The trouble is that Brown calls it "iron cast" and pronounces "iron" in a rather strange way, with two syllables rather than one.

Still, we can expect Labour researchers to be busily examing past Conservative policy statements to see where else they have made "cast-iron guarantees", or "iron-cast".

Interesting to see that the Speaker John Bercow twice gave mild rebukes to Gordon Brown over straying into party politics, and Brown's later retort that he did "not always agree" with Bercow's rulings.

The numbers involved give some idea of how making Improvised Explosive Devices or IEDs has become a major industry on Helmand Province.

During the first nine months of this year, British forces dealt with more than 4,000 IED incidents.

Thousands more bombs were either dealt with by other Nato forces, or blew up those planting them or locals and livestock.

As for those that remain undiscovered, it is anyone's guess how many there might be.

The next wave

Staff Sgt Schmid had defused 64 IEDs during the first five months of his tour.

Bomb disposal operators (that term covers officers and NCOs, men and women) are working flat out, more intensively even than at the height of the Northern Ireland Troubles.

Recently, Newsnight filmed with the next wave of bomb disposal people bound for Afghanistan.

They were training at the Felix Centre at Kineton in Warwickshire.

Unusual people

Talking to instructors who had returned recently from Afghanistan, such as Staff Sergeant Stu Dixon who won the George Medal there, it is the rudimentary nature of so many of the Afghan devices that makes them so difficult to deal with.

Sometimes the pressure pads or trip devices made with bare bits of wire, and old lumps of wood will result in the slightest movement making an electrical contact, leading to the explosion.

Dealing with this threat on an almost daily basis requires a very unusual type of person as we discovered during our filming.

On the day that former British soldier Simon Mann - who was sentenced to 34 years for a coup plot in Equatorial Guinea - is pardoned and returned to the UK, Richard Watson has the exclusive, inside story of the coup. He has documents including the contract for the coup which shows that if it had been successful Mr Mann would have been in line for a $15m payout. Take a look at the documents here.

We have an exclusive interview with Al Gore - the former US Vice President, and author of the best-selling book and Academy Award winning movie about the threat of global warming, An Inconvenient Truth.

And Matt Frei returns to the town of Culpeper, in 'swing state' Virginia, a year on from the US Presidential election. Has anything changed since President Obama was elected?

Join Jeremy at 10.30pm on BBC Two.

Hamid Karzai has been declared the elected president of Afghanistan. The planned second round of the vote was scrapped after Mr Karzai's sole challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, pulled out of the race.

Tonight we hope to be speaking to Lyse Doucet live from Kabul to get the latest. And our
Diplomatic Editor Mark Urban will be asking if the lives lost and money spent to secure Afghanistan sufficiently for the election was worth it, and with Mr Karzai's reputation now so tarnished, how legitimate will his presidency be?

On Friday Newsnight spoke to the UK's chief drugs adviser, Professor David Nutt, who was sacked after criticising government policies Since then two members of the drugs advisory panel have quit in protest and others are to meet to discuss their next move.

The home secretary Alan Johnson said Prof Nutt was sacked for "crossing the line" between giving advice and campaigning for a policy.

Tonight our Science Editor Susan Watts examines how this row came about, where it is heading and what could be the future implications for scientists and government ministers.

And talking of Alan Johnson, we will also be getting reaction to his first speech on migration in which he admitted the government has sometimes been "maladroit" in dealing with immigration.

Mr Johnson also accepted that some parts of Britain were "disproportionately" affected
by immigration, with an influx of new arrivals putting a "strain" on jobs and services.

And we have the second part in our Make Do And Mend series of films. Milliner Mary Jane Baxter has been travelling around the UK for Newsnight investigating if the resurgence of make do and mend is parsimony or passing fad.

Jeremy is presenting tonight and he'll be on BBC Two at 10.30pm. Do join
him.

The leading contenders in Afghanistan's presidential election certainly have shown cunning.

Unfortunately their skills have helped their country little and brought the elections into disrepute.

President Hamid Karzai has been re-elected after his leading challenger, Dr Abdullah Abdullah, pulled out.

Mr Karzai thereby did what the international community asked for - conceding the need for a second round of voting after claims of widespread vote rigging in the first - without having actually to fight it.

Dr Abdullah meanwhile has managed to tarnish his rival's victory by making a hue and cry about voting fraud in the first place.

When sufficient Karzai votes were disallowed to make a second round necessary, and the president had conceded that, Dr Abdullah withdrew.

Abdullah 'tarnished too'

The challenger himself had 300,000 votes disallowed so he was hardly blameless in first round rigging.

What is more few experts think that he would have won, even if the second round had been staged to the best international standards.

So rather than enhancing the sitting president's credibility by losing against him, Dr Abdullah has withdrawn, claiming fair elections were impossible.

Both men have displayed the Afghans' remarkable talent for nihilism.

Many foreign models have been trashed in Afghanistan, but their own governance only ever produced one of the world's poorest, and in recent decades, most war torn countries.

Strategic options

So where now? Mr Karzai has been congratulated on his re-election and the international community must now get along with him.

There will be some ideas about making further aid conditional on his rooting out corruption and getting the government to function better, but it will be very hard to compel him to do so.

Threats of withdrawing foreign forces are not credible - not yet anyway. In fact the logic of the strategic options now being considered suggests committing more troops and aid.

Since the president knows this, he will make the right sort of noises towards the Western powers, and maybe accept a national unity government or some constitutional reform.

But will he really follow through?

The Americans will have to work Mr Karzai hard, but carefully, during the coming weeks in order to get the best looking result they can.

But even if his government is no more than the vehicle for raising much larger security forces in order to make Nato's withdrawal from combat possible, Mr Karzai knows he is indispensible once more.

It is fascinating how the features of modern-day Westminster politics have permeated down to deepest Somerset.

In the small town of Somerton, where I was filming on Friday, 11 members of the 14-strong town council - all independents - have suddenly resigned their seats.

That leaves only three councillors to run the show, and one of those plans to resign as well, which technically leaves the council defunct until the town elects some more councillors.

Their official reason for this mass resignation is the the persistent campaign run by a local blogger, Niall Connolly, accusing the town council of being "riven with a culture of secrecy", a failure to keep proper records and lack of consultation.

He also called it a "tender-free-zone" in its decisions on who gets local contracts.

Yet Mr Connolly also uses colourful and aggressive language which verges on the abusive at times. And his targets have been paid MPs or ministers but part-time councillors who were, after all, only unpaid volunteers.

One councillor complains Mr Connolly accused him of being a racist. Mr Connolly himself admits he described two elderly women councillors (who do indeed look rather similar), as "the ugly sisters".

And the councillors complain that Mr Connolly's website, Muck and Brass, accuses them of being "corrupt and degenerate".

But scratch below the surface and the story gets a lot more complicated. When I heard that 122 people attended a public meeting on Tuesday evening I immediately knew that all was not happy among the citizenry of Somerton.

The broad critique, voiced by many other people in the town, is that the council is living in the past in the way it treats the public, that there is a lack of openness, transparency and accountability.

That is why Tuesday night's meeting unanimously called for a referendum on the council's plan to to move the local recycling centre.

In short, Somerton reflects in miniature important developments these days in national politics. "Somerton," says Mr Connolly, "is only Westminster writ-small."

So we have a political elite under fire from an increasingly disillusioned public who feel their rulers are out of touch.

Throw into that mix internet bloggers and our new Freedom of Information laws, and we see politics undergoing a transformation unlike anything since Thomas Paine and James Gilray in the late 18th Century developed the arts of political pamphleteering and cartooning

European summits ain't what they used to be. I have fond memories of the Nice Treaty. Not its political significance, you understand, but the magnificent buffet provided by our French hosts. Nowadays the poor journalists and ministers all go to the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels which is, of course, much more efficient but lacks a certain glamour. Unless you count the presence of our Diplomatic Editor, Mark Urban, who was once famously described as having saturnine good looks.

Now that the Lisbon Treaty is set - finally - to be ratified, Mark will be asking what difference will it make to the EU? And I will be asking my guests if it is just a tidying up exercise or the route to an EU super state. We'll also be exploring who will be getting the top jobs and if David Miliband wants to become the new High Representative.

Michael Crick has been causing mischief in Taunton in Somerset where a blogger has apparently caused several councillors to resign.

And Kirsty has been interviewing that giant of American literature, Philip Roth about his new novella. Watch a preview clip here.

We will be discussing that book - The Humbling - with my Review guests at 11pm, who this week are Marina Hyde, Johann Hari and Jonathan Tallis.

But our main focus will be celebrity culture with several different takes on that. There's the new documentary Starsuckers which has famously hoaxed a number of newspapers into running mad "sleb" stories - like Pixie Geldof stuffing sweets in her bra and Sarah Harding from Girls Aloud being a secret expert on quantum mechanics.

There's a more soft focus view of fame with the new film showing Michael Jackson during his final rehearsals. But is it simply cashing in on his memory?

And we'll look at Reality Killed the Video Star - Robbie Williams' new album. Did the media want him to fail even before it came out?

Do join me from 10.30pm on BBC Two.

Martha