UK in Afghanistan for decades, says our man in Washington

[IndianaGreen]

UK in Afghanistan for decades, says our man in Washington

Diplomat's warning comes as MPs say Britain has lost sight of its original security objectives

By Brian Brady and Jane Merrick

Sunday, 2 August 2009

Britain must concentrate all its efforts on the military campaign to conquer the Taliban as its attempts to achieve a wide-ranging "rescue" of Afghanistan have failed miserably, an influential committee of MPs warns today.

A report on the Afghan campaign from the Foreign Affairs Committee claims that British politicians have allowed "mission creep" to interfere with the original objectives set eight years ago, but they have still failed to pull off wider goals including stamping out the opium trade. Instead, the MPs insist, the UK should target its resources on "one priority, namely security" and allow the international community to spearhead the broader effort to rebuild Afghanistan.

The dismal verdict on the UK's all-round performance in Afghanistan came as Britain's most senior diplomat warned that Britain's involvement in the country will last for "decades". Sir Nigel Sheinwald, British ambassador to Washington, painted a bleak future for British forces in the week that the Panther's Claw operation in Helmand was declared a success. In an intervention laying out the longest official timetable yet seen for Britain's commitment to Afghanistan, he predicted that the tide would turn against the Taliban "over the next year or so" rather than in a matter of weeks.

"We're going to have a very long-term commitment to Afghanistan's future. This is not just one year," Sir Nigel said in an interview with The Boston Globe. "This is going to be for decades. We're going to help them get to a state which can they can ward off the return of the Taliban and al-Qa'ida. That's our strategic objective. We need to avoid the vacuum returning. And that's what this huge effort is about."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/uk-in-afghanistan-for-decades-says-our-man-in-washington-1766248.html

[timeforpeace]

1. Boy is he going to have egg on his face when they pull out and leave the US there alone.