Taliban negotiations ruled out
UK will not negotiate with Taliban, Gordon Brown says
Wednesday, 12, Dec 2007 10:28
Gordon Brown has stressed that international forces in Afghanistan are not prepared to negotiate with Taliban leaders.
Addressing the House of Commons a day after praising the efforts of troops from volatile Helmand province itself, the prime minister insisted the fight against the insurgents was being won.
Today he again paid tribute to the "vital work" carried out by UK servicemen and women in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion that toppled the Taliban in 2001.
Eighty-six Britons have been killed in operations in Afghanistan, 42 this year.
"We are winning the battle against the Taliban," the prime minister said as he announced £450 million worth of development aid. "We are isolating their leadership, not negotiating."
He explained that the UK, one of 38 nations supporting the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force and wider reconstruction efforts, would continue "to meet our obligations and honour our commitments".
Mr Brown explained that in Afghanistan – one of the world's poorest countries where only one in three have access to clean water and 80 per cent of women cannot read – military success has preserved its "fragile democracy".
Announcing a new influx of 150 protective patrol vehicles in Afghanistan, he said that UK troops would undertake a more active role in training the country's own army, which hopes to recruit 70,000 more soldiers in 2008.
The Afghan army had proved itself in the retaking of Musa Qala from Taliban fighters, Mr Brown continued.
But he admitted that overall reconstruction efforts in the south Asian country could not be achieved without progress in the police, courts and prison.
He added: "Afghanistan cannot hope for stability while the poisonous narcotics trade continues to flourish."
In response Conservative party leader David Cameron said there was "much [in the statement] we support and welcome".
However Mr Cameron explained that in order to prevent failure the government had to accept that a "practical approach" must be taken to political progress, with the imposition of a western-style democracy unlikely to succeed.