The war in Afghanistan cannot be won, Britain’s most senior military commander in the country has warned.
By Caroline Gammell
Last Updated: 11:33AM BST 05 Oct 2008
Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith said the British public should not expect “a decisive military victory” and that he believed groups of insurgents would still be at large after troops left.
He said it was time to “lower our expectations” and focus on reducing the conflict to a level which could be managed by the Afghan army.
Brig Carleton-Smith, commander of 16 Air Assault Brigade which has just completed its second tour of Afghanistan, 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 approached.
But he told a Sunday newspaper: “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 when we go, there won’t be roaming bands of armed men in this part of the world.
“That would be unrealistic.”
Brig Carleton-Smith said the aim was to move towards a non-violent means of resolving the conflict.
“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.
“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.”
A Ministry of Defence spokesman 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 fully support President Karzai’s efforts to bring disaffected Afghans into society’s mainstream with his proviso that they renounce violence and accept Afghanistan’s constitution.”
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk, 05 Oct 2008