Topical question asked in the House of Commons, by David Miliband (Labour). It was answered on Tuesday, 14 September 2010 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Topical Questions

Question: We have not yet discussed Afghanistan, and, given that 10,000 of our fellow citizens are serving there, it is right that we do so. The Foreign Secretary has said that he recognises the importance of political reconciliation to end the war in Afghanistan. Does he accept that, almost two months after the conference that he attended in Kabul, Afghan officials are still bickering over who should be in charge of the high peace council that the Foreign Secretary lauded when he came to the House in July? Will he confirm that only a few hundred Taliban fighters have come in from the cold over the last six months? What is the Foreign Secretary going to do to pour drive, energy and effort into an initiative that, as The New York Times rightly said on 12 September, ““has badly faltered””?

Answer: The right hon. Gentleman is quite right to raise Afghanistan, which ought to be discussed at every Foreign and Commonwealth Office questions. He is right to refer to the extent of our deployment there and the very hard work that our troops continue to do. I think that he and I agree—I think we are agreed across the Floor of the House—that the political process is of huge importance, as well as the military progress that has been made. A political reconciliation was what President Karzai received the support of the peace jirga to carry out. It is very important that that should be an Afghan-led process, so the United Kingdom and the United States are very active in supporting the Afghans in leading that process. Has it yet produced results? Well, it has not, but it would be surprising if it had produced results at this stage. The reintegration programme has just begun and the opportunity for political reconciliation now exists. It would be quite wrong to judge the possible outcome of that process from what has happened in just the last few weeks.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 515 c736-7
Session: 2010-12
Oral question type: Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Commons chamber
Subjects: Peacekeeping operations Afghanistan Commonwealth Foreign relations
Link: View this Topical question on www.publications.parliament.uk