Afghanistan: 'We can split the Taliban'
Updated on 28 January 2010
Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth tells Channel 4 News the UK can "achieve some victory" if Taliban factions in Afghanistan are prepared to walk away from the insurgency.
Speaking as Afghan and western leaders gather in London for a conference on the future of Afghanistan, Bob Ainsworth said: "We are hoping to capture momentum on the civilian side of development in Afghanistan."
"We can’t solve this problem by military means alone."
He went on: "What we can’t do is set an artificial timetable. But what I think we can do is see real progress in the next year or so, so the Afghan national army gets itself into the position where it has the capability and the numbers of starting to protect, district by district, province by province, their own country.
"And then we will be able to draw back and let them take the lead.”
The British presence in Afghanistan
"The purpose (of the UK’s involvement in Afghanistan) has always been fundamentally the same: the protection of our national security… the crucible of terrorism is on that Afghan-Pakistan border. So don’t ignore the direct threat."
“But equally, Afghanistan is in a very important region. If Afghanistan fell to extremists, then the consequences to Pakistan would be pretty serious. Pakistan is a nuclear power with close connections to the United Kingdom. So that’s in our vital interests that that region is stable.”
On deals with the Taliban
“There are different elements of the Taliban… There are local people who have come to support the insurgency for largely local or national reasons. Now, some of them… may be prepared to walk away from the insurgency, and we can thereby split our enemies and achieve some victory.”
On corruption in Afghanistan
“We’ve had a very good governor in Helmand province… without whom we wouldn’t have been able to make the progress that our forces have made in Helmand province this year… But yes, we need clear commitments to tackling corruption.”
When asked if the British government supports Hamid Karzai 100 per cent, Mr Ainsworth said: “Yes. He’s the president of Afghanistan. He has the support of the Afghan people. I know that the elections were far, far from perfect, but I don’t hear anybody suggest that he was not going to win those elections. So we can work with President Karzai… but politicians need to deliver as well as make speeches.”
