Afghanistan's future after Nato troops leave uncertain, admits Hammond
Source: The Guardian
The defence secretary has admitted that no one can predict what will happen to Afghanistan after British, US and other Nato troops end their frontline role there at the end of 2014, and stressed that only the Afghan people can find a lasting solution to the country's violence, corruption and lawlessness.
Philip Hammond's remarks came as the Commons cross-party defence committee warned that Afghanistan could descend into civil war within a few years and suggests that the British government's attitude towards the country is one of simply hoping for the best.
Hammond told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the UK had intervened in Afghanistan to protect its national security and had never intended to stay for a protracted period.
"Afghanistan is an incredibly complex society; a multiethnic society that was very fragmented before we started," he said. "Our ability to influence outcomes is very limited."
Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/10/afghanistan-future-uncertain-hammond
bemildred
(90,061 posts)denverbill
(11,489 posts)The Taliban will quickly regain power and Karzai and his supporters will flee into exile, with his millions in cash already safely stowed in foreign banks. The Taliban will re-institute Sharia law with all it's wonderful stuff (banning girls from schools, chopping off hands of thieves, stoning adulterers, etc).
Orsino
(37,428 posts)Brigid
(17,621 posts)It will be the same primitive rockpile it has always been.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)...or there is continuing civil war, like in the 1990s. Or possibly effective partition of the country.
And even if there is a deal, there is a strong prospect of continuing conflict. The non-Pashtuns, the Northerners, aren't going to be happy with any Taliban presence in the government.
But at least the poppies will continue to blossom. A sea of flowers. A river of money to finance more fighting. Sweet.