UN chief: Nato cannot defeat Taliban by force

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Official says alliance failing in Afghanistan as Blair admits Iraq is a 'disaster'

Nato "cannot win" the fight against the Taliban alone and will have to train Afghan forces to do the job, the UN's top official in the country warned yesterday.

"At the moment Nato has a very optimistic assessment. They think they can win the war," warned Tom Koenigs, the diplomat heading the UN mission in Afghanistan. "But there is no quick fix."

In forthright comments which highlight divisions between international partners as Nato battles to quell insurgency, Mr Koenigs said that training the fledgling Afghan national army to defeat the Taliban was crucial. "They (the ANA) can win. But against an insurgency like that, international troops cannot win."

He spoke to the Guardian as Tony Blair came the closest so far to admitting the invasion of Iraq had been disastrous.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,1951222,00.html