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Proceeding contribution from Dai Havard (Labour) in the House of Commons on Monday, 21 March 2011. It occurred during Debate on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973.


United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973

No, I am sorry but time will not allow me to do so. Let me say something about the exit strategy. We need to do all the things I have mentioned and a lot of other things that I do not have time to itemise now, but it is important to ask who we do them with and where we do them. Will we train people? Where will we train them? Who will help with the training? The Arab states' involvement in the process is key. We need to internationalise it and to do so much more than we have in the past. There is also a question of sustainability. We are still in Afghanistan. We need to get real about what we can and cannot do and we then need a conversation about the domestic effects of all this. There are domestic effects on the strategic defence and security review and other matters. Will we have the capability to operate in the littoral in the future? Discuss. The Defence Committee will discuss these matters but Parliament needs to do so. We need to be very clear about the question of sustainability over time because this is not just about the military—it is about the Department for International Development and about foreign policy. We need a clearer foreign policy, as was stated earlier. Unless we have an idea of what we are trying to do, we will not equip ourselves to do it. I support the Libyan people, our armed forces and their families and this deployment, but—


Secondary information

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
525 c736 
Session
2010-12
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Subjects
Armed forces Armed conflict Deployment Air force Legal opinion France Politics and government Military aircraft United Nations USA UN resolutions Civil disorder Libya League of Arab States Gaddafi, Muammar Ceasefires
Link
View this Proceeding contribution on www.publications.parliament.uk