David Miliband

Afghanistan: Canard by name....

Afghanistan and its neighbour Pakistan have been top of my agenda since last year. They were top of the agenda in talks this week with General Petraeus. And he got a more accurate representation of UK concerns than the garbled reports in the French Private Eye Le Canard Enchaîné.

The future of Afghanistan is not about appointed dictators or foreign occupation; it is about building Afghan capabilities with the confidence of the Afghan people. This is a long haul - and it would not be possible without international aid workers, diplomats and soldiers. But they need strong partners nationally and locally in Afghanistan. And as I wrote last week, one bright spot is the new relationship at Presidential level with Pakistan.

Posted at 11:16 03 October 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[4]

Political surge in Afghanistan

I am typing this on the Eurostar to Paris for the second round of UK-France discussions about Afghanistan.  The loss of 10 French soldiers outside Kabul on 18 August has brought grief but also determination in France . 
 
Coverage in Britain of the Kajaki dam turbine delivery has rightly heaped praise on the skill, bravery and success of the operation so far.  But commentators are also right to point out that for the ordinary Afghan it is the operation of the dam that is important, and that is still some time off.  For them, security is uppermost in their minds - and that means above all local policing, a key feature of confidence in any country.  The widespread perception of the need for massive reform of the Afghan police - often rightly contrasted with the Afghan army - is a top priority for European and American partners of the Afghan government.
 
Civilian or at least non-military interventions are at the heart of sustainable progress - hence the emphasis in Anglo-French discussions of the need for a political surge in Afghanistan, led by the Afghan government at national and local levels.  The news that 18 provinces are now poppy free, up from 13 last year, and that drug harvests are down 19%, is one indicator that while indiscriminate terrorist attacks are a rising source of insecurity, normal life including commercial life among farmers encouraged by rising wheat prices can take root.
 
I will be discussing with Bernard Kouchner how civilian-military cooperation can be better developed, not least to engage the local population.  The new and now up and running UK Civil Military Mission in Helmand is a sign of the future.

Posted at 17:59 04 September 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[6]

Afghanistan: still worth it

The losses suffered by the British army in the last two weeks in Afghanistan have prompted a lot of debate about why we are there, how it is going, what is the end game.  Anyone reading about the lives of the young people recently killed by the Taliban will be mourning the loss of such brave people, and will believe it right that we have open and honest debate about the situation in Afghanistan.  I certainly do.  I set out my views in the Sunday Telegraph yesterday  as did General Sir Mike Jackson  .

Posted at 15:12 23 June 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[6]

For Queen and Country

This has been a painful week for Sky’s extensive and admirable coverage of the conflict in Afghanistan.  The pictures of the fighting and the coffins coming home have shown something of the reality of the conditions faced by troops (and diplomats).  I hope the TV coverage and the web based information and back up debate about the British and coalition role in Afghanistan.  I have visited the country twice and I was interested in Christina Lamb’s comments today about the coalition being there because the Aghans want and need them there.  This is not a re-run of the Soviet occupation.  I tried to use my interview this morning to get across some key points.  We are there with a clear mission: to help the people of Afghanistan build the stable institutions that can help them prevent their country once again becoming a base for al qaeda.  So this is in our national interest.  We know there is not a military solution; there needs to be politics and development.  But the Afghans tell us they need military support if they are to survive; and the pictures show it.  We are making a difference but it is a long haul. 

Posted at 12:14 18 June 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[2]

World Without West

Thanks to Steve Clemons for his thoughtful comments on my meeting with the Young Atlanticists in Bucharest. He is right that promulgating the idea of responsible sovereignty begs a lot of questions – but I don’t agree that “responsibility” does not translate into a non-western way of thinking. If anything it is one of those words that can get used for all sorts of purposes – but I think it is a useful word in bridging divides, because once you start debating what it actually means you are bought into the idea that it is legitimate and right to establish boundaries on action (at least moral boundaries and hopefully more).

I am thinking of returning to this theme, or at least a related matter that Clemons covers, in a speech to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington later this month: my recent visits to Afghanistan and Pakistan and the unique concurrence of complemetary government strategies on each side of the Durand Line make me want to look again at what we can learn about the spread and role of democratic governance from the experience of those two countries.

My former colleague Chris Smith (now Lord Smith of Finsbury) sent me his book The Suicide of the West but I am afraid I have not been able to read it. I am sceptical about a declinist school – but what is clear (see my blog Foreign Office goes to China) is that the West does face fundamental choices about how it thinks about rising powers.

Posted at 10:42 01 May 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[3]

Turkey: Right Place, Right Time

Following the visit of Ali Babacan to London on Monday I am more convinced about the importance of Turkey to the UK’s foreign policy priorities. Not just because he is younger than me, Babacan represents the new Turkey. The fact that the election of his party is under judicial challenge – for alleged breaches of laws on secularism – shows the importance of the work being undertaken in this 99% muslim country that has a proud and secular democracy.

It is one of the most fundamental issues we face – whether and how religion and state can coexist. Put another way how national identity and religious identity coexist. In Turkey this now matters a lot because the constitutional court hearing threatens the will of the people expressed at the ballot box.

It matters for us too. We do more trade (1900 British companies there) and (prosaically) take more holidays (2 million last year) there than ever before. But in foreign policy the places where we have interests the Turks are important partners. Pakistan – Babacan is going there the day before me. Afghanistan – they have troops on the ground. Basra – they are opening a consulate and want to work on an industrial park. Cyprus – there is a new opportunity for resumption of talks in the search for a bizonal and bicommunal solution. Europe - Turkey represents the eastward expansion in the search for stability on the eastern border. Energy – a diversification of gas pipelines for Europe.

Babacan spoke at the RUSI. Read for yourself how they see the world.

Posted at 10:59 16 April 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[2]

Still waiting for ZEC

It is now ten days since the people of Zimbabwe voted for a new government and five since I told the House of Commons that we were urging quick release at national level of results posted at local polling stations within 24 hours of voting. Opposition leader Tsvangirai has been stoical and statesmanlike in his comments but I know from discussion with foreign ministers that there is deep-seated concern about the ends to which the delay in announcing the result will be put. Though no-one can know for sure, since the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has still not published the results, the suggestion is that a second round will be necessary as the results will show neither Presidential candidate with 50% of the vote. If that is the case then the importance of Zimbabwe's neighbours in Southern Africa increases in importance; they have benchmarks for the conduct of elections and need to argue strongly for them to be followed.

People can ask: why do we care? Above all because any human suffering on the scale in Zimbabwe is bad enough, but suffering on that scale in a country that does not need to be poor or torn is worse than a tragedy. It is not colonialist or guilt-tripping to seek to prevent avoidable suffering; it is just the right thing to do.

Torch Relay

I spoke to the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police last week about Sunday's Olympic Torch relay. He had a pretty tough job: protect the passage of the Olympic torch across 31 miles, and protect the right of people to protest. In a way the questions of whether we need a torch relay, who thought of the route, why it needed to be 31 miles, are beside the point. The important thing is to celebrate genuine Olympic ideals of sportsmanship and ensure that equally genuine concerns about human rights in Tibet and elsewhere are vented in Olympic Year as much as in any other year.

I think it is important that we show our commitment to the Olympics. We should be represented by our best sportsmen and women in Beijing in August. Not because we are the next Olympic hosts and not because sport and politics don't mix. Sport and politics inevitably mix; the question is whether a boycott would actually help the situation in Tibet or elsewhere, and I don't think it would.

The seriousness of our commitment to human rights comes from the fact that it is not restricted to Olympic Year but that it is expressed without fear or favour every year.

Ceaucescu's Monster

It was symbolic, heartening and dreadful to pace around former President Ceaucescu's gargantuan palace for the Nato summit last week. Apparently great swathes or Bucharest were bulldozed for its creation and it emptied the rest of Romania for its marble. But the venue did demonstrate how Nato has changed - in membership, in function - since the arrival of the former countries of the Soviet bloc.

I told a meeting of 150 Young Atlanticists that the changing role of Nato, supplementing common defence with out of area operations that reflect the modern nature of insecurity was an allegory for the the shift from balance of power politics to the politics of shared risk. The truth is that for a Nato summit to be (half) dominated by its operations in Afghanistan is a huge change; but that is necessary because the nature of the national security risk facing Nato countries has changed.

There are some clear next steps from the summit. Following through on a genuinely comprehensive approach in Afghanistan. Greece and Macedonia finding a way forward on the "name issue" so that Greece no longer resists Macedonia's membership of NATO. Ukraine and Georgia to take forward their reforms and Nato its assessment of their readiness to start the membership application process. And importantly Nato and the EU to overcome obstacles to cooperation - because these should be two complementary organisations with striking overlap in values.

Global Hub

I have never been trumpeted into speech before but the Annual Easter Banquet for the diplomatic corps turns on British style (well, City of London pomp) for the benefit of our foreign guests. Here is what I had to say about the modern role of UK foreign policy.

Who says countries can never agree on difficult issues

It is worth looking at the Nato declaration on Afghanistan. It defines clearly why we are there, what we are doing and how to judge progress. It should become a rallying point for all those who say that we need to do a better job at explaining what we are about in that country. At the meeting the PM and I held with President Karzai it was evident that he had been struck by the depth of solidarity, the long term commitment of the countries involved and the responsibilities on the Afghan government. The UN Secretary General's comments were clear and forceful about Afghan responsibilities and summed up a lot of the mood.

Posted at 09:15 08 April 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[12]

The things they tell you...

We all know that Finland is properly renowned for being top of the best leagues - not football but education. The PISA education studies say Finland's 15 year olds have the highest educational achievement, and there is also the least inequality of achievement of OECD countries in Finland But on a trip last week I was also told in my FCO brief that Finland is top of the mosquito swatting championships...surely not...who counts these things?

Finland, Denmark and Sweden, which I visited this week, are all countries which have made a virtue of their openness, and have committed money and people to furtherance of decent values around the world.  Two Danish soldiers were killed in Afghanistan last week - further testimony to that country's commitments. 

But the Finns and Swedes are not in NATO - hence the importance of the EU/NATO coordination that I discussed in all three countries. The membership of the two organisations has significant overlap, but they were founded to do different things, and should be complementary in their activities.  They can only do this if there is proper coordination - in Brussels and on the ground in Kosovo and Afghanistan. One important by-product of the talks this week on Cyprus will I hope be the confidence on both sides to try to overcome the barriers to NATO/EU cooperation.

Democracy Canon

I spoke to 400 students at Copenhagen University about the future of Europe. A week before the Danish government published their 'Democracy Canon' - "intended to act as an inspiration for a debate on the understanding of the prerequisites for democracy in Denmark."

The canon lists 35 key events, philosophical trends and political texts that have had the most significance for Danish democracy.  The Magna Carta and John Locke get a mention alongside The Jutland Act and the Danish Farm and High School Movement as well as the Salman Rushdie affair and...notably for a country often alleged to be viscerally Euro-sceptic... the EU Treaties.  Before this sets off a great debate..."EU Referenda" get a mention too.

It's a nice idea.  A British list would probably be shorter (Magna Carta, Reform Acts...) and more focused on our own history (can't see Tocqueville making it, or Greek democracy).  Maybe that is why our notion of democracy is a bit thin.

Five Years On

The media and public have rightly paused this week to reflect on the Iraq War five years on.  I think the essential point is that the war itself went better than people feared, but building the peace has been much more difficult than people expected.  For many people the judgment of history has already been made.  But the next five years, not the last five, will be decisive for political reconciliation, for security improvement, and for economic reconstruction.  The BBC/ABC poll this week makes striking reading.  It is not that things are sorted; it is that the undoubted steps backwards in 2004/5 have been reversed; and that confidence creates its own momentum.

We will debate the timing of an inquiry into the origins of the war in the House of Commons on Tuesday.  The important work now underway across the country, including in Basra where over 4,000 British troops are doing important work in support of the Iraqi Security Forces, means that the government do not believe the time is now right for such an inquiry.  Let's stay focused on the job in hand.

Posted at 18:25 23 March 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[3]

Responsible Sovereignty

The debate about Burma or Kenya or Darfur, not to mention Iraq or Afghanistan, is often couched in terms of interference in the affairs of another country.  And the Chinese doctrine of non interference has been used to draw a distinction with more activist approaches to foreign policy.  But in an interdependent world what is non interference?  We 'interfere' with each economically, politically and environmentally all the time.

That is why I used my speech at Beijing University to advocate an approach I called 'responsible sovereignty' - recognising the continuing central role of the nation state in having a hold on people's affections and for making decisions in the world, but recognising that in its treatment of its own citizens and in its engagement around the world sovereign states have responsibilities that are fettered by a set of universal values (the UN's 2005 Responsibility to Protect gave this legal form).

I built the term from Robert Zoellick's idea of 'responsible stakeholder' that he developed in 2005.  But 'stakeholder' does not have a Chinese translation.  And sovereignty speaks to the reality of the role of nation states. 

Posted at 16:55 03 March 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[3]

Afghanistan - half empty or half full?

The three reports published last week by the Afghan Study Group, Oxfam and the Atlantic Council  represent sustained analysis and thoughtful prescription - a great deal of it highly resonant of the Prime Minister's statement to the House of Commons in December 

I see them as a necessary contribution to a debate that must not be shirked: the Afghan effort is costing lives and money and deserves intense discussion. It cannot be said often enough that Afghanistan is an immensely poor country - 174th out of 178 in the World Development Index - with very basic systems of government. If that were not enough it is plagued by the triple whammy of civil strife, highly profitable opium production and an insurgent force ('Taleban') with deep links to al qaeda.

The Oxfam report calls for development and security to be seen as two sides of the same coin; for greater effort in rural areas; for comprehensive and long term international commitment; for Afghan ownership and for greater donor effectiveness. These are all good points and consistent with UK aims. I was also struck by the Afghan Study Group's emphasis on achieving greater consistency in the work of Provincial Reconstruction Teams, on shared purpose across the Pakistan border, and rule of law. Again - good points. There are two vital questions: whether we have an interest in being in Afghanistan to support the government's efforts, and whether we are making a difference. Most people would probably accept the former; debate is rightly on the latter. but the evidence - from development to security to governance - is that a) without the international community (over 30 nations are there) things would be much worse, and b)there is definite progress from refugees returning to girls in school to rural development councils that engage local people and military success against Taleban forces unable to make headway in conventional fighting.

But at the same time as progress there is insecurity - for Afghans and for foreign military and diplomatic personnel (I recently spoke to my Norwegian opposite number Jonas Store whose reaction to the bombing at the Serena Hotel in Kabul, where unfortunately a journalist travelling with him was killed, was to announce greater Norwegian effort) - and that insecurity is real. Checking that insecurity is a shared responsibility of the Kabul authorities and the international community. I will have more to say about this during the week.

Council for Assisting Refugee Academics

2008 is the 75th anniversary of CARA, founded in 1933 by William Beveridge Cara and its predecessors have helped about 9000 lecturers and researchers - including 18 Nobel Prize winners and 150 Fellors of the British Academy and Royal Society. I am happy to send them anniversary good wishes. Information is at www.academic-refugees.org <http://www.academic-refugees.org>

FCO Moving Forward

Today I meet 150 or so of the FCO's partners across business and the voluntary sector to discuss the FCO's forward plan. The aim is clear: more effective foreign policy, through greater clarity about the role of the FCO and greater engagement with civil society. Details are in my Written Statement to Parliament. I gather the Canadian and French governments are undertaking similar exercises.

Posted at 15:08 04 February 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[5]

Afghanistan

The reports of the death of the Deputy Governor of Helmand Province today, Haji Pir Mohammed, in a bombing at a mosque is a horrific reminder of the difficulties we face in Afghanistan. Two years on from the Afghan Compact signed here in London which set the framework for the international communities' help and support for the Afghan Government, three reports in recent days (by the Afghan Study Group, Oxfam and the Atlantic Council) have assessed the current state of play. The common message from all three is that we need greater coordination: between the UN, NATO and the EU, between civilian reconstruction and the armed forces, between the Afghan Government and the international community. I agree. I saw for myself when I went to Afghanistan that the sheer scale of the task is enormous and we will succeed only if we have better coordination in all those areas. The need for better coordination was central to the discussions the Prime Minister and I had with President Karzai and UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon. That is why we have backed the idea of a UN Special representative who can bring the international community's effort together.

Afghanistan is a poor country ripped apart by 30 years of conflict. Up to three quarters of the population are illiterate. Constant pressures mean that the capacity of the central Government is weak. There is an insurgency fueled by criminality and drugs. Over 100 countries are committed to reverse the devastation to its society and economy of 30 years of brutal conflict. Real progress has been made and the Prime Minister set out the framework for further progress over the long term in a statement to Parliament on 12 December last year. This involves increasing the capacity and effectiveness of the Afghan Security Forces and the Afghan Government; tackling the insurgency with a politically led counter insurgency policy that involves reconciliation with those prepared to renounce violence, and dealing with the drugs industry through improved rule of law and alternative livelihoods. We all agree that there is room for better co-ordination of the international effort - that is why it is so important that the UN and the Afghan Government move as quickly as possible to find someone suitable to fulfill this key role.

Sayed Pervez Kambaksh

The media in London are following closely the case of Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, a journalist condemned to death in Afghanistan on a charge of blasphemy after he circulated an article he found on the internet. We are opposed to the death penalty in all cases and believe that freedom of expression is one of the cornerstones of a democratic society. We have raised the case as members of the EU and with the UN, and we support strongly the UN Special Representative's call for a review of the case.

Posted at 15:20 31 January 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[7]