Defence secretary Browne calls for talks with Taliban
Defence secretary Des Browne has called for the government to hold talks with Afghan Islamist rebel group, the Taliban.
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Mr Browne said negotiations with terrorist groups in Northern Ireland managed to broker an agreement that enabled peace in the country.
Speaking to the paper, he said: “What you need to do in conflict resolution is to bring the people who believe that the answer to their political ambitions will be achieved through violence into a frame of mind that they accept that their political ambitions will be delivered by politics.”
He added: “In Northern Ireland I talked to people with a past. There are different varieties of these organisations. There’s no question that some of them if we succeed will transfer into the political dimension.”
However, Mr Browne ruled out holding talks with al-Qaida saying that they were against the western way of life.
In the interview he also praised the efforts of British troops in Iraq, adding that the country’s forces were now taking up a greater role in ensuring security. The defence secretary also hinted at greater troop withdrawals if security conditions continued to improve.
Mr Browne said troops in Afghanistan would also eventually move towards completing an overwatch role as is currently being done by the military in Iraq’s Basra province.
Previously it was reported that MI5 agents had met with Taliban elders in spite of Gordon Brown telling parliament that it was not UK policy to negotiate with the Afghan insurgent group.
