Benn backs Taliban talks

Monday, 17 August 2009 12:00 AM

By politics.co.uk staff

Tony Benn has called on coalition forces to enter peace negotiations with the Taliban at a protest against the war in central London.

He led a Stop the War coalition demonstration at the Cenotaph on Whitehall, where a Remembrance Day ceremony takes place every year.

"We are here to remember the men and women who died in Afghanistan, out of respect for their loss and the loss to their families," the former MP said.

"But we are also looking forward to how this can be ended. All wars have to end by talking to somebody. We will have to talk to the Taliban because this is an unwinnable war."

Foreign secretary David Miliband indicated in a recent speech the government should be prepared to talk to moderate tribal leaders associated with the Taliban in a bid to win them over.

And politics.co.uk understands the government has been attempting under-the-radar talks with certain Taliban elements for at least a year.

But these efforts are far from the wholesale peace talks Mr Benn backed today.

He added: "Going to war was a political decision. It wasn't made by the soldiers, it was made by the government and it is time we pulled out."

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