Uncertainty for Certain

It was supper time on Sunday, a pretty murky night, rain and wind across Britain, when we heard that coalition forces had started their action in Afghanistan. Over the last few days there has been a marked change in atmosphere here in London ... a feeling that this isn't going to be like any other war.

For a start, there's more Police on the streets, more armed Police in a city where a cop carrying a gun on patrol is still unusual. There's a greater sense that the authorities are taking our security very seriously. To be honest, we expect that and we can change our lives a bit and adapt to it. But once the politicians had had their say on Sunday, the thoughts of most people here moved to our armed forces out in Central Asia ... and their families -- in America and Britain. Those families who from now on will be watching the TV news bulletins and scouring the papers for news of their loved ones. And those individuals, the soldiers, sailors and the airmen your President mentioned... most of them very young, who find themselves in unfamiliar and unwelcoming surroundings. Brave, certainly, and eager to get the job done, but there'll also be fear and uncertainty in the mix.

There's a seventeen year old girl serving on one of the Royal Navy ships, who accidentally got herself on the front page of our newspapers a couple of weeks ago when she wrote to her mum back home, saying that she was pretty nervous about what might happen when the bombing started. Because of her age, she was offered the chance to fly home. But she made the choice, to stay with her ship and with her shipmates. There are others too who should be in our thoughts.

Friends of mine who work for American and British aid agencies had to leave Afghani colleagues and workers behind when they fled the country. They're now desperately trying to find out if they're OK. Because the one thing that's certain about war is total uncertainty. And it's the good people everywhere we should be thinking about this morning.