David Miliband

Foreign Secretary

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Monday 27 July, 2009

Afghanistan: Comprehensive approach

Today saw the end of a key phase in UK military operations in Helmand.  The bravery and skill of our forces has been exceptional.  Their aim, successfully achieved, was to allow 80000 or so Afghans to vote in the elections next month.

The new Afghan government will have big challenges.  It needs to be credible and to deliver effective governance: national, regional and local.  Because it has to start peeling away the layers of the insurgency - the bet-hedgers and the allies of convenience - from the hard core who will never enter politics. My speech today at NATO HQ sets this out in detail.

Posted at 17:37 27 July 2009 by David Miliband  |  Comments[6]

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your words worry me and the news from Afghanistan worries me more. Taliban is still there and they are just waiting for your leave to come back. The same situation is here in Egypt and in other Arab countries. Islamists are just waiting for the moment when the corrupted regimes leave.

Posted by Fathy Abou Hatab on July 28, 2009 at 02:41 AM BST #

Dear Sir, I am an afghan women human rights activist when I read your blog and heard from medias about the negotiations with Taliban. It always convinced me to think about their violation that they did and I was one of the eyewitnesses of their horrible events. You knew that they are related with Al-Qaida and the Al-qaida is a great group of terrorism. If this negotiations take place and the government of Afghanistan and International Community accept the Taliban's condition the first victim of this negotiation would be Afghan women and children. The question that I couldn't its answer is On which coast this negotiation take place and on which bases?

Posted by nasima azkiya on July 28, 2009 at 10:31 AM BST #

the EU is spending 900 billion euros a year on Afghanistan, what! we're spending half a billion a year. and then you're going to announce that our high speed rail link is not going to be bothered with. at a time of recession we're all spending this much on Afghanistan. this is insane. all these kids dying. for what? to prop up a corrupt kabul government. a centralised government isn't even suitable for that country. we Europeans are sending out our people to be killed to save the honour of an American president, all we get in return is contempt. sticking these Gitmo detainees on Bermuda without consulting us. the Polish have been contributing to america's war efforts and Obama hasn't even the decency to allow them tourist visas as recompense. get us out of there.

Posted by sarahsmith232 on July 28, 2009 at 04:13 PM BST #

900 million, not billion. still, way too much. and it's 12 billion of our money per year. 900 million euros on a country with a population of just 33 million. how much does that work out per each individual Afghan? am i right in thinking that is something like 27million euros per Afghan? per annum! i'm too stupid to know whether that is roughly correct. but if my maths is not wildly out, which surely it can't be by that much, does that not sound slightly insane? if we really wanted to help these people and were spending that much money why not just pop that into a high interest rate Swiss bank account in the name of each Afghan. and job done. but something isn't right with these figures. either that is an incorrect figure or David Miliband and the whole rest of Europe has gone barking.

Posted by sarahsmtih232 on July 30, 2009 at 03:07 PM BST #

Dear David, about time, I do appreciate your deep understanding, but amazed about the time it is taking to comprehend, that the problem in Afghanistan is not with people Taliban it is with the concept, the idea. Atrocities, like lake of human rights are all over the place, in Pakistan, In China, in Iran, and even in the developed world. Here in UK. I believe what is required is a very proactive, and changed policy towards Pakistan, the key to solve Afghan problem lies in Pakistan. I am from Quetta, have witnessed many things personally, we need to engage Pakistan, in a very grass root level, we need to think and understand the way they work convey our message we have I believe is only one, PEACE, respect and mutual existence with respect of human life and dignity.

Posted by Zulfiqar A Syed on August 02, 2009 at 08:38 PM BST #

What have we achieved since 2001?

Posted by Paul Macdonald on August 17, 2009 at 05:09 PM BST #

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