THE chairman of the Cleaford Christian Trust, a Farnham organisation which raises money for orphanages in Romania, has written to Virginia Bottomley registering his reservations about the military action in Afghanistan.

Angus Cleaver has written to the MP questioning the government's "unqualified support" for the US-led air strikes.

In his letter, Mr Cleaver writes of his disappointment that innocent Afghan civilians are being killed, as were civilians during the American attacks on Yugoslavia.

To minimise the risk of such fatalities, Mr Cleaver advocates the use of ground troops to seek out Osama bin Laden and bring him to trial.

He writes: "Questioning of our policies seems to imply some element of disloyalty to our armed services, or of indifference to the victims of September 11, neither of which are correct in my case, but the overall effect is to discourage debate and scrutiny of our government's position.

"I hope the opposition will find an opportunity to challenge the government on the policy, as I am sure I am not alone in my distaste for the UK being associated with the present bombing campaign."