Afghan campaign not working - MPs

2011-03-02 08:27:26

2 March 2011 Last updated at 14:38 Share this page Delicious Digg Facebook reddit StumbleUpon Twitter Email Print Afghanistan campaign needs political follow-up, say MPs Fighting the Taliban is not enough to secure Afghanistan, MPs say Continue reading the main story Taliban Conflict Nato's crisis Tipping point? Rogue soldiers Taliban strength

Talks with the Taliban should be held because the current tactics being used in Afghanistan are not succeeding in achieving a stable solution, say MPs.

A Commons foreign affairs committee report said the US must step up efforts to hold talks with the Taliban if a political resolution was to be reached.

Conservative MP Richard Ottaway, the committee's chairman, said: "Every day you're fighting you're not talking."

Ministers said insurgents who renounced violence were "being spoken to".

The report also suggests the British government's stated purpose for having troops in Afghanistan - to protect UK national security - may have been achieved "some time ago" because al-Qaeda's strength in the country appeared limited.

But there were also a "number of risks" in the UK's aim of withdrawing combat troops by 2015, it added.

Mr Ottaway told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "There is no doubt there have been great tactical successes in the south but at the end of the day we can't win militarily.

"If you can get Pakistan, the US, Afghanistan and the Taliban around the table that is a very important role for the (British) government."

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