That's the only conclusion that can be reached after Saturday's stall in Worthing, West Sussex, marking the eighth anniversary of the start of the US-led war.

The message of "Bring the troops back from Afghanistan!" received considerable support from members of the public in Montague Street.

Hundreds of leaflets were handed out and several sheets filled with signatures supporting a petition calling for immediate withdrawal. There was also noticeable lack of hostile comment of the type that often greeted anti-war protesters in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq.

Whatever the hype that originally paved the way for the "War on Terror", it seems to have now been replaced by anger that the country is still involved in what most people now see as a pointless and unwinnable conflict.

Said Dave Phillips of worthing eco-action, one of the groups involved in the protest: "Bin Laden is still alive, the civilians and soldiers are still dying and nobody seems to know what the point of it all is. Opinion polls have shown the majority of British people think that all our troops ouught now to be pulled out of Afghanistan immediately.

"More than 200 British soldiers have been killed in the conflict, and more than 1,000 US/NATO troops overall. Nobody knows how many civilians have lost their lives - it’s not a statistic the authorities think worth recording! Enough is enough - this futile bloodshed cannot go on!"

The campaigners highlighted the rising toll of human lives lost in Afghanistan and the economic cost to the taxpayers at a time when vital services are facing the axe.

They also argued that far from prevening terrorism, Britain's military presence in Afghanistan is making us new enemies all the time - they point out that the 7/7 London bombings took place in 2005, some four years after the attack on Afghanistan was launched.

And they condemned what they described as "a permanent war on behalf of global capitalism, making the world safe for oil and gas pipelines and US corporate greed".