Britain’s most senior military commander in Afghanistan Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith has said the British public should not expect "a decisive military victory" but should be prepared for a possible deal with the Taliban.
ìGroups of insurgents will still be at large after troops pulled out,î The Telegraph quoted the commander as saying. He said it was time to lower expectations and focus on reducing the conflict to a level which could be managed by the Afghan army. He said talking to the Taliban could be an important part of that process.
He insisted his forces had "taken the sting out" of the Taliban for 2008 as winter and the colder weather approaches, but warned that many of the fighters would return in May or June. "We’re not going to win this war. It’s about reducing it to a manageable level of insurgency that’s not a strategic threat and can be managed by the Afghan army. We may well leave with there still being a low but steady ebb of rural insurgency. I don’t think we should expect that when we go, there won’t be roaming bands of armed men in this part of the world. That would be unrealistic," the army officer said.
"We want to change the nature of the debate from one where disputes are settled through the barrel of a gun to one where it is done through negotiations," he said, adding: "If the Taliban were prepared to sit on the other side of the table and talk about a political settlement, then that’s precisely the sort of progress that concludes insurgencies like this. That shouldn’t make people uncomfortable."
Meanwhile, a Ministry of Defence spokesman, as reported by the paper, defended the brigadier’s comments and said the aim was to provide a secure infrastructure for the Afghan National Police and Afghan National Army.
"We have always said there is no military solution in Afghanistan. Insurgencies are ultimately solved at the political level, not by military means alone," the spokesman said. "We are not looking for a total military victory; it is much wider than that, improving the infrastructure to allow the country to move forward without the need for a total defeat of the Taliban."
Joining the debate about how long troops will stay in Afghanistan, Brig Carleton-Smith said he expected tactical military responsibility to be handed over to the Afghan government within five years, The Telegraph reported. Reuters adds: The Afghan Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak has expressed his disappointment at the commander’s statements, saying the insurgency had to be defeated.
"I think this is the personal opinion of that commander," Wardak told reporters. "The main objective of the Afghan government and the whole international community is that we have to defeat this war of terror and be successful," he said.
Wardak said success also depended on how British forces were approaching the problems they faced in Helmand but did not say whether their current strategy was the right one. While reacting to the British commander’s statement, a spokesman for the Taliban Qari Mohammad Yousaf told an Afghan news agency that there would be no negotiations with foreigners and repeated calls made by Taliban commanders for the unconditional withdrawal of the more than 70,000 international troops from Afghanistan.
"They should know that Taliban will never hold talks with the invaders," he said. "What we had said in the past, we also say once again, that foreign forces should leave without any condition," he said.
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