Afghan campaign 'needs rethink'

Fighting the Taliban is not enough to secure Afghanistan, MPs say Evidence suggests that the present highly intensive counter-insurgency campaign in Afghanistan is not succeeding, MPs say. A Commons foreign affairs committee report said it could derail efforts to secure a solution to what is essentially a political problem. It says the US must step up efforts to hold talks with the Taliban if a political resolution is to be reached. The foreign secretary agreed it was time to advance a political process. The report also suggests the British government's stated purpose for having troops in Afghanistan - to protect UK national security - may have been achieved "some time ago" because al-Qaeda's strength in the country appeared limited. But there were also a "number of risks" in the UK's aim of withdrawing combat troops by 2015, it added. David Cameron has promised to be an "all-weather friend" to Afghanistan. The prime minister said on Tuesday that the country had a "strong" relationship with the UK and that change would involve a "political process". The government has said it wants British combat troops to leave Afghanistan by 2015 and, last month, Defence Secretary Liam Fox suggested some of the 10,000 personnel could come home this year if "conditions on the ground" were suitable.But Conservative MP Richard Ottaway, the committee's chairman, said: "There is a danger that, without political leadership, the current military campaign is in danger of inadvertently derailing efforts to secure a political solution to what is essentially a political problem. “We question the government's logic that a full-scale counter insurgency campaign aimed at the Taliban is necessary to prevent al-Qaeda returning”House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee "The US should not delay its significant involvement in talks with the Taliban leadership because, without US support in this respect, there can be no longer-term peace in Afghanistan." He added: "We question the fundamental assumption that success in Afghanistan can be 'bought' through a strategy of 'clear, hold and build'. "The distinction between al-Qaeda and the Taliban, which is so often overlooked or confused in current debates, is crucial to generating appropriate policy responses in Afghanistan. "We question the government's logic that a full-scale counter insurgency campaign aimed at the Taliban is necessary to prevent al-Qaeda returning or that it could ever succeed." The "security rationale" behind the 2015 deadline for withdrawing combat troops was also not clear, and the policy had "a number of potential risks", according to the MPs' report. Mr Ottaway said: "Her Majesty's Armed Forces have our full support in tackling the challenges before them and their efforts are rightly described in so many instances as heroic. "It is our hope that this report will be received in the constructively critical manner in which it is intended, and regarded as a contribution to the wider debate which is taking place on how to improve a situation to which there are no easy solutions." Foreign Secretary William Hague said the government was building on military and civilian gains but agreed it was time to advance a political process. This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

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