The latest murder to be claimed by the Taliban has taken place in Kandahar. It came after the high profile shooting of the Afghan President’s half brother, who was the governor of Kandahar. This man was said to be rooting out corruption in the war strife country and was portrayed on BBC News as being someone who will be difficult to replace especially as the pool of available candidates is already near drought levels. The news report also carried an interview with America’s general in area who said that such actions were a sure sign of desperation on the part of the Taliban who had been clearly defeated.

This news story comes on the same day that Britain expelled eight Libyan diplomats and said that it recognised the Transnational National Council as the official representatives of the people of Libya. The story carried a handful of people outside the Libyan embassy applauding the decision and one man said that 99 per cent of Libyan people did not like Gaddafi.

When news reports – who ever carries them – take this clear line and tone then they are little more than propaganda, and what’s more depressing is that the impression left is one of a never ending cycle of violence. There has also been very little coverage of the cost on civilian lives Nato’s bombing campaigns are having.

Surely, the first place to start in covering any war is how it will affect ordinary people, whose lives are never going to be the same ever again because a higher power has decided that the best way to resolve a dispute is through war.