---

Foreign Affairs and Defence

The hon. Gentleman has said several times during the debate that there have been failings on the part of other Departments to respond to the opportunities generated by the military, but he knows, probably better than many right hon. and hon. Members because he spends a lot of time in Afghanistan in particular—it is to his credit that he goes there to see conditions on the ground—the nature and the scale of the challenges. He knows that the time scale that he imposes for the purposes of the debating point that he has made today is unrealistic, but he knows also that the situation in Iraq is improving—it is fragile, but improving and moving in the right direction. Fundamentally, he knows—this is the argument that he makes in respect of Afghanistan—that the long-term future of the Iraqi people, the stability of their country and their economic opportunities can be provided only by Iraqi solutions. The development of the Iraqis themselves, through their own security forces, politics and governance, will be their future, rather than, as the hon. Gentleman suggests, the failure of one Department of one country that was involved in the situation over a comparatively short period. That false argument is not worthy of him, given his knowledge and understanding of the complexity of these issues. I do not think he is right and I reject his thesis.