Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 3:14 pm Post subject: Fight with Taliban needs 'courage' says defence secretary
Quote:
Achieving success in the struggle against the Taliban will require "courage and patience", Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth has warned.
In a week in which seven British soldiers have been killed in operations in Afghanistan Mr Ainsworth acknowledged that more lives would be lost in the fighting ahead.
But in a keynote speech to the Chatham House foreign affairs think tank in London he insisted that there was now a "momentum" behind the international military campaign.
He said that a major British and US offensive currently under way in Helmand was succeeding in isolating the Taliban in its southern stronghold.
"Let us be under no illusion. The situation in Afghanistan is serious - and not yet decided. The way forward is hard and dangerous. More lives will be lost and our resolve will be tested," he said.
"No single or simple solution will work. Success will be achieved incrementally. Step by step and over time, the Afghans themselves will take full responsibility for their own security and their own governance.
"This is not going to happen tomorrow, nor in a few short weeks or months. If we are to succeed we will need both the courage and the patience to see it through. There is no defined end date - only an end state."
Mr Ainsworth acknowledged that in the face of recent casualties it was understandable that people were questioning whether the operation was "too difficult".
However, he insisted that there were compelling reasons for British engagement in Afghanistan which went to the heart of the UK's national security.
He said that it was essential that al Qaida was denied a new foothold in the country from where they launched the 9/11 attacks on the United States.
Joined: 13 Sep 2006 Posts: 2568 Location: One breath from Glory
Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 3:59 pm Post subject:
Quote:
He said that it was essential that al Qaida was denied a new foothold in the country from where they launched the 9/11 attacks on the United States.
Yawn. Didnt think anything was launched except perhaps a missile into the pentagon. All the other supposed planes took off from US soil. I suppose if you keep spinning the story then most get too dizzy to spot its phoniness
Sorry ...I forgot the plans were conceived in those sophisticated and wonderful reinforced concrete Five Star bunkers high in the mountains.
Of course like WMDs they never found them
Link _________________ JO911B.
"for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world, against wicked spirits in high places " Eph.6 v 12
another gutless talking head looking after his over padded arse,if this b****** was in the front line when the first shot was fired the second shot would have hit him in the bloody back.
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