The West's undignified scramble for the exit is a gift to the Taliban That may be so, but in a primitive society where many tribesmen will not even allow women to be seen in public, perceptions count for everything. And wherever Afghans look, they see a procession of Nato soldiers packing up their belongings and heading for home, their mission far from complete. Last year it was the Canadians and Dutch who, despite the heroic efforts of their soldiers, were forced to bow to domestic pressure and withdraw their forces. Later this summer, the Americans will start pulling out the 33,000 troops that were sent to support Gen Petraeus's "surge" strategy, while Britain will bring home a modest contingent of 500 from the 10,000-strong force deployed in central Helmand province. Now the future of the 4,000 French, who have largely been anonymous as far as fighting the Taliban is concerned, has become a hot political issue in that country's presidential election - President Nicolas Sarkozy has promised to pull them out next year, while François Hollande, the socialist front-runner, is promising to go one better by ordering a full-scale withdrawal this year, if he is elected. Nor, as Philip Hammond, our new Defence Secretary, discovered during a tour of Central Asia this week, will dismantling the vast military infrastructure that supports the Nato mission be as easy as setting it up. For the past 10 years, the vast majority of equipment has been shipped to the port of Karachi and then transferred overland into Afghanistan. But the breakdown in relations between Washington and Islamabad since the Americans mistakenly killed 24 Pakistani troops last November has resulted in the Pakistanis closing all the major crossings. And even when - as is expected - the border is reopened, Nato convoys will still be vulnerable to Taliban attacks. It is for this reason that Mr Hammond and his Nato counterparts are anxiously searching for alternative routes to extricate the monumental amount of kit that the British military has accumulated in Helmand, with the Central Asian railway network seen as the preferred option. Certainly, the old adage that it is easier to start a war than end it applies to removing billions of pounds" worth of equipment from a war zone. The real priority for Nato, though, must be to reassure the Afghans that, as the military campaign ends, the West will remain committed to supporting them in their efforts to stabilise the country, particularly as the Taliban appear to show no inclination to engage in political reconciliation with the government of Hamid Karzai. On the contrary, if recent intelligence reports are to be believed their attitude is that all they have to do is wait patiently for the Western infidels to depart, before seizing control of the country. Nato certainly needs to be on its guard that it does not repeat the mistake made by the Soviet Union when it withdrew troops in 1989. The pro-Moscow government it had painstakingly established under president Mohammed Najibullah was overthrown by the Taliban, and the unfortunate dictator castrated and hanged in the centre of Kabul.