British Foreign Secretary David Miliband denied yesterday that the international community was failing in its mission in Afghanistan.
“Our true mission ... has been to use military power to create the space within which Afghan institutions can become strong enough to resist the Taliban. That mission is certainly not impossible,” Miliband wrote in the Sunday Times.
Responding to criticism in the newspaper of Britain’s role in Afghanistan, Miliband denied that Taliban insurgents were getting the upper hand over Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s administration.
10 PERCENT
He said the majority of Taliban activity was concentrated in 10 percent of Afghanistan’s districts, home to only 6 percent of the population, and he rejected suggestions that the capital, Kabul, was encircled.
“The Taliban lack the capacity to hold ground,” Miliband wrote.
Some insecurity stemmed from “growing criminality,” including the trade in heroin, Miliband said.
He hailed the decision by NATO defense ministers to allow their forces to do more to support the Afghan security forces in targeting drug facilities.
The fact that 18 provinces in Afghanistan were drug-free this year, up from 13 last year, was “progress. Not enough, but progress all the same.”
TRIBAL AREAS
On tribal areas of Pakistan, which he said were used to launch insurgent attacks in Afghanistan, Miliband said new Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari had promised to make cooperation with Afghanistan a priority “and he has been true to his word.”
“The role of the international community is not to wring its hands and go home, but to help the Pakistan government get a grip on its tribal areas,” he said.
This involved “doing better” in preventing attacks from suicide bombers and roadside bombs but also required “a massive economic effort with the help of the international community.”
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