A leading Tory MP has called on the Government to urgently rethink the UK’s military presence in Afghanistan.

Adam Holloway, who is a member of the defence select committee, was one of three Kent MPs who spoke out over the conflict after Kent-based L Cpl James Johnson, of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, was killed in action on Saturday.

Mr Holloway, who represents Gravesham, said: "We need to massively increase training and support for the Afghan police and army.

“We need small teams of British troops working with the Afghans and we need to stop the big military engagements ourselves.

“We need to use the money saved and have it pumped into poverty alleviation and development programmes. We need to support the Afghan government in making local deals with the Talibans."~ Father of soldier killed in Afghanistan: the Army was his life >>>

Canterbury MP Julian Brazier said that while the decision to intervene in Afghanistan had been supported by all political parties, he was shocked by the ‘failure’ of both the UK and allies’ governments to give soldiers the support they needed.

He said: “The command structure is a muddle. We have different forces under the control of different people when we should have one single command structure.”

Mr Brazier, who was a captain in the TA, also said the international development department had failed to deliver of promises made to the Afghan people.

“We are losing public supoport,” he added. “We are very dependent on the goodwill of the local people but things just do not happen.

“ Afghanis are saying, ‘where is the work you promised us, where is the clean water’? We capture an area and the work we promised does not happen.”

Faversham and Mid-Kent MP Hugh Robertson, a retired Army major, said the nature of the fighting in Afghanistan now was different to when troops originally went in.

"The key thing is that we must adjust our tactics and gain greater investment from the international development/civil aid field while doing our utmost to create as stable a situation as possible."