LONDON - The former head of the British armed forces who recently retired and appointed as a defence advisor to Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday confirmed that the war in Afghanistan is a war on Islam. Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 programme about Britains continued occupation of Afghanistan, Gen (r) Sir Richard Dannatt said: There is an Islamist agenda which if we dont oppose and face it off in southern Afghanistan, or Afghanistan, or in South Asia, then frankly that influence will grow. We could see it moving from South Asia to the Middle East to North Africa and to the high water mark of the Islamic caliphate in the 14th, 15th Century. He explicitly said if Muslims adopted Islams political ideas and the Khilafah ruling system, this would be unacceptable and warranted a military response from Britain. He had no issues with Muslims praying or enacting spiritual rituals, provided they surrendered political life to Western values. Taji Mustafa, media representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Britain, said: General Dannatt, a recent adviser to Prime Minister Cameron, has previously been on the record attacking Islams ruling system, the Khilafah (Caliphate). However, this exchange on the BBC confirms a particular matter. He tried to justify this by attempting to label Islam as a religion and not a deen, or way of life that encompasses political matters as well. These comments echo the language of warmongers like Tony Blair, George W Bush and Donald Rumsfeld - all of them justified the war on terror by demonising the desire of Muslims to restore the Islamic Caliphate - something that enjoys overwhelming popular support in the Muslim World, he said. If Dannatts comments are a reflection of the thinking of the new British government, it is an indication that David Camerons government would be committing itself to an almost perpetual war against the political aspirations of the Muslim World - to move towards a greater role for Islam in governance and a greater move to shed the shackles of colonialism, both of which are represented in the aspiration for the return of the Caliphate.