Miliband concern over Afghanistan withdrawal

Monday, 11 February 2008 12:00 AM

Foreign secretary David Miliband has claimed that Afghanistan would become a "failed state" if the international community pulled out of the country.

Mr Miliband said in an interview on the Today programme that any withdrawal would lead to "even more dangerous insecurity".

"It is important that we are there to make a difference because without the international presence then Afghanistan certainly would be a failed state," he said today.

"Afghanistan was the incubator for al-Qaeda. The Taliban government created safe haven for al-Qaeda which it exploited to monstrous effect. We have got a security requirement as well as a development requirement.

"I think Afghanistan would become a failed state if the international community pulled out. It is evident for me that we have an interest in being there, but we are making a difference," Mr Miliband added.

The foreign secretary also stated that the while the presence of foreign troops was making a difference, the re-building of society so that Afghanistan could "cater for its own affairs" was equally important.

Regarding the battle to end the production of opium poppies in the country Mr Miliband also declared: "I believe that in the end drug production reflects the level of security. If you improve security you get drug production down. If there is insecurity, both on the military and policing side, the drug production will grow."

He called for a UN secretary-general representative in the country as well as a stronger international relationship with President Karzai.

"The whole international community needs a better relationship with President Karzai," he claimed.

Mr Miliband, who visited Afghanistan last week with US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, was responding to comments made by Lord Ashdown over the weekend.

The former Liberal Democrat leader alleged the country was already a failed state and asked whether the battle was being lost by the international community.

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• foreign policy
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• middle east