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Defence Policy

Brigadier Carleton-Smith is a very fine officer, and 16 Air Assault Brigade did a fantastic job of work in Afghanistan. However, my hon. Friend has taken those words out of context. The brigadier was saying that we will not win the campaign in Afghanistan by military means alone, and I agree very strongly with him. There will have to be progress on the political side at some point—no one disputes that—and the sooner the better. We should be clear that if people are prepared to renounce violence, support the democratic process and ensure peace and stability in Afghanistan, we would not have any problem with such a political process being kicked off, but it is totally unacceptable for there to be in any sense a political reconciliation—to borrow my hon. Friend's words, I think—with the Taliban, who are an armed insurgency with a poisonous hatred of the west and of the decent values for which we and our allies stand. That would not be a political reconciliation; that would be a surrender, and that is not going to happen. Therefore, we must be clear about the military purpose, and we should not become confused over the semantics.