Afghan war ‘cannot be won’

THE public should not expect “a decisive military victory” in Afghanistan, Britain’s most senior military commander in the country warned yesterday.

Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith said the aim was to reduce the uprising to a level at which it could be managed by the Afghan army and this could involve talking to the Taliban.

It was necessary to “lower our expectations” and accept it would be unrealistic to expect that multinational forces can rid Afghanistan of armed bands.

Brig Carleton-Smith, the commander of 16 Air Assault Brigade said his forces had “taken the sting out of the Taliban for 2008”.

He added: “We’re not going to win this war. It’s about reducing it to a manageable level of insurgency that’s not a strategic threat and can be managed by the Afghan army. We may well leave with there still being a low but steady ebb of rural insurgency.”

Brig Carleton-Smith said the aim should be to change the nature of the debate in Afghanistan so that disputes were settled by negotiation.