Afghans ‘on verge of switching allegiance to Taliban’

NATO’s top commander in Afghanistan yesterday said the country was at a tipping point and warned Afghans were likely to switch their allegiance to resurgent Taliban militants if there are no visible improvements in people’s lives in the next six months.

General David Richards, a British officer who commands NATO’s 32,000 troops, warned that if life doesn’t get better over the winter, most Afghans could switch sides.

“They will say, ‘We do not want the Taliban, but then we would rather have that austere and unpleasant life that might involve than another five years of fighting’,” Gen Richards said.