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Afghanistan and Pakistan

My Lords, I agree with each and every one of the points made by the noble Baroness. It is of course right that the insurgency will not be eradicated by force alone, but that is the whole purpose of our strategy and that which has been outlined by General McChrystal. It is about "Afghanisation", which involves both a military effort and a civilian effort working in tandem. It is all about providing support to, and working in partnership with, the Afghan troops and police and improving the governance of that country, so that the Afghan people are able to take control of their own country and ensure that it is not overrun by terrorists. It is about hearts-and-minds and development as well as the military effort, but without the military effort, these other things could not fall into place. The noble Baroness spoke about the elections. We have to be patient and let the process run its course. We support the various investigations that are taking place and hope that there will be a declaration in the not-too-distant future.