Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, gave a speech on the importance of the NATO mission in Afghanistan, at NATO headquarters on 27 July. He stated that the objective in 2001 is the need to deny Al Qaeda a base from which to launch attacks on the world - still holds true in 2009. 

Military force alone could not achieve lasting success in a counter-insurgency campaign. The role of military operations is to deny insurgents the space to operate. Clearing and holding territory allows the Afghan government to extend its reach, delivering basic governance, justice and development. But international troops must be followed by the ANA and ANP.

The real measure of success is not Taliban body counts, but the number of Afghans shielded from violence. Whether military gains are translated into strategic success will ultimately depend on whether the insurgency is also undermined by politics.

The future of Afghanistan must be shaped by three political strategies, addressing the causes rather than the symptoms of the insurgency:

• a strategy for dealing with the insurgency through reconciliation and reintegration, leading to an inclusive political settlement in Afghanistan that draws in conservative Pashtun nationalists
• a strategy for reassuring the wider Afghan population that they have a secure future under the legitimate Afghan government - which will depend on credible, clean government at provincial and district level, working with the grain of tribal Afghan society - and that the international community will stand by them as long as our support is needed
• a strategy for ensuring that Afghanistan's neighbours (including Iran and, crucially, Pakistan) accept that Afghanistan's future is to be a secure country in its own right, in which each of its neighbours have a responsible and open stake - a friend to all and a client to none, in other words

The Foreign Secretary concluded by setting out the priorities for the next six months: the Afghan presidential elections on 20 August must be credible and inclusive. The winning candidate must not only present a clear manifesto, but move quickly to implement it. The biggest shift in 'burden-sharing' must be towards the Afghan state assuming greater responsibility. In Pakistan, the international community must forge a new, sustained and long-term partnership focused in backing civilian institutions and democratic government. The mission is vital, and achievable. Politics can and must succeed in Afghanistan.

Please find here the complete speech of David Miliband (Acrobat Reader 56 KB, new window). 

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