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Afghanistan

I thank the Prime Minister for his statement; there is much in it that we support and welcome, particularly what he said about equipment. With the recent success in Musa Qala, I believe that we can say that the men and women serving in Helmand today are every bit the equal of those who stormed the beaches in Normandy, who held the line at Inchon in the Korean war, or who retook the Falkland Islands. Christmas approaches, with our service personnel away from their families. I am sure that this is the time that the whole House will want to send them our very strongest backing. [Hon. Members: ““Hear, hear.] I have been to Helmand twice in the last two years, and I have set out previously the significant course corrections that we need to make to avoid failing in Afghanistan. To prevent failure, I believe that we have to follow three principles: first, that, as the Prime Minister said, military success alone is not enough; secondly, that greater political progress is needed, based on a practical approach, rather than believing that we can impose a fully fledged western democracy in a deeply traditional society; and thirdly, that the international effort needs to be much better co-ordinated. Before I take each of those in turn, may I ask the Prime Minister about the reports in today's newspapers? Press headlines say clearly that the Government plan to talk to the Taliban, but the Prime Minister said in his statement that ““we will not”” talk to ““these people””. Does that not demonstrate once again the error of briefing the press in advance of making statements in this House? But is it not more serious than that? These appear to be completely conflicting messages, and they really could undermine our forces in what they are doing. In his reply, can the Prime Minister clear this up and tell us what he will do to investigate how this took place? Let me take each of the three principles in turn. First, on the military, is it not the case that with the international security assistance force, Operation Enduring Freedom and the separate Afghan military commands, we simply have too many chains of command? All the evidence in defeating counter-insurgencies anywhere in the world is that there has to be a single chain of command. What progress has the Prime Minister made with the US and with NATO towards getting these rationalised? Specifically on British forces, we have seen success in Sangin, at the Kajaki dam and now in Musa Qala, but is the Prime Minister satisfied that this time, there are sufficient Afghan forces to hold the ground that has been taken? On equipment and training, Lord Guthrie recently raised the example of a brigade being deployed to Afghanistan without having first been trained on medium machine guns. Is the Prime Minister satisfied that this will not happen again? As he knows, one cannot spend time in Helmand without hearing concerns about the lack of battlefield helicopters. He talked about that in his statement. Does he now regret the decision to cut the helicopter budget by £1.4 billion in 2004, and can he explain why the Government waited until this year before placing orders for new and converted helicopters? The Prime Minister talked about burden sharing. Can he tell us precisely what progress is being made in ensuring that we get a greater contribution from our NATO allies? On forces welfare, the Prime Minister has taken up our suggestion of additional pay in theatre. Will he now take up another suggestion—simple—that soldiers' leave should begin when they step off the aircraft on UK soil, not when they leave Afghanistan? On pay, is it not now clear that the new Ministry of Defence computerised pay system is not working properly? We had problems with the Royal Air Force earlier, and now we have some Territorial Army officers not being paid at all. Can the Prime Minister tell us today how many people are not being paid properly and what he is doing to put these failures right? Next, political progress. The general problem is that the writ of the Karzai Government does not extend to the whole country. In many places, Helmand included, the Afghan police are seen as corrupt. What steps are we taking in terms of mentoring, leadership, training, pay and discipline structures, and after six years, why are we still not getting this right? The UN drugs and crime chief has said:"““The government's benign tolerance of corruption is undermining the future””." A new anti-corruption tsar, Izzatullah Wasifi, has been appointed. Will the Prime Minister comment on reports in the newspapers that Mr. Wasifi was once convicted in the United States of attempting to sell $2 million-worth of heroin? Thirdly, on co-ordination, aid has been provided by the US, the UN, the EU and NATO as well as by dozens of smaller agencies. We have been arguing for more than a year that there should be a single high-profile figure to take charge of co-ordinating the international effort and providing real leadership in the way that Lord Ashdown did in Bosnia. The Prime Minister spoke about it, but can he actually tell us when he thinks it is going to happen? ... February. Thank you, but why was it not in the Prime Minister's statement? The whole point is to announce things to the House of Commons! I know that the Foreign Secretary's speeches are normally corrected after they have gone out, but he might want to advise the Prime Minister rather more about how to get the content right in the first place. On aid—[Interruption.] Calm down, dear; there are more questions to answer. On aid, can the Prime Minister—with the help of the Foreign Secretary, who is now fully engaged in this—tell us how much of the very substantial UK aid is being spent in Helmand and how much in the rest of the country? Should we not be focusing our aid efforts to a much greater extent where our soldiers are deployed and where so much is at stake? This country is giving a tremendous amount to Afghanistan in money and in lives. Conservative Members believe that it is a worthwhile effort, but the country wants reassurance. With that in mind, can the Prime Minister give a commitment to full quarterly reports to Parliament on this issue? Ultimately, as the Prime Minister knows, our success or failure in Helmand depends on the ordinary Afghan and on whether he or she feels safer and better off since British forces arrived. Does the Prime Minister feel that we are in danger of disappointing the high hopes of security and reconstruction?