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Topical debate on Thursday, 14 January 2010, in the House of Commons, led by David Miliband. The answering member was Liam Fox.

Afghanistan

Topical debate on Afghanistan.

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
503 c873-96 
Session
2009-10
Department
Ministry of Defence
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Proceeding contributions
Lord Robathan | 503 c895-6 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister who, if I may say so, is making a very good speech. I agree with most ...
Show all contributions (60)
Bill Rammell | 503 c896 (Link to this contribution) That is exactly the same as the Labour party's position, and we are committed to it; a Green Paper w...
Brooks Newmark | 503 c892 (Link to this contribution) Should he get in, Rory Stewart will bring a wealth of experience on Afghanistan. He, perhaps more th...
Bill Rammell | 503 c892-3 (Link to this contribution) I know that it is always customary to sum up by saying that we have had a good debate, but this time...
Julian Lewis | 503 c893 (Link to this contribution) As our understanding of the attitudes of the Taliban is so important to this process, will the Minis...
Bill Rammell | 503 c893-5 (Link to this contribution) There certainly was an alliance between the Taliban and al-Qaeda; that was one of the principal reas...
Ann Winterton | 503 c890 (Link to this contribution) That is not a prescriptive solution.
Lord Robathan | 503 c890-1 (Link to this contribution) No, but as far as possible we should let the Afghans determine for themselves how they wish to run t...
Brooks Newmark | 503 c892 (Link to this contribution) I was not expecting to say anything today, but I would like to put on record my thanks to some of th...
Denis MacShane | 503 c892 (Link to this contribution) Turquoise Mountain is connected to Rory Stewart, who hopes to enter this House as an hon. Member. Ho...
Bill Rammell | 503 c896 (Link to this contribution) That is the oldest and weakest defence in the book. I think the hon. Gentleman knows where those bri...
Bill Rammell | 503 c896 (Link to this contribution) No, I am happy to pause and await the hon. Gentleman's intervention.
Julian Lewis | 503 c896 (Link to this contribution) My understanding is that there was no briefing of any sort whatever. If the Minister had a copy of i...
Speaker | 503 c887 (Link to this contribution) Order. The right hon. Gentleman is quite right that this has been a very reasonable debate so far. P...
Denis MacShane | 503 c886-7 (Link to this contribution) Those who do not like history lessons often find themselves repeating the errors of history. Up to n...
Brooks Newmark | 503 c889 (Link to this contribution) As my hon. Friend will know, I spent a week in Afghanistan at the end of November and had the opport...
Lord Robathan | 503 c888-9 (Link to this contribution) Never a hippy, no. People came back from Kabul with those ghastly, smelly goatskin coats, which the...
Lord Robathan | 503 c887-8 (Link to this contribution) I was very interested in what the right hon. Member for Rotherham (Mr. MacShane) had to say. He made...
Lord Robathan | 503 c890 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend. Not just I, but the west, the United Nations and others should beware o...
Ann Winterton | 503 c889-90 (Link to this contribution) The points that have just been made are valid. We are currently in a delicate situation in Afghanist...
Lord Robathan | 503 c889 (Link to this contribution) As I said, I do not have a prescriptive solution, but my hon. Friend makes an excellent point from h...
Andrew George | 503 c877 (Link to this contribution) I mean in Helmand province, in particular, which is very much the focus of the action.
David Miliband | 503 c877-8 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will know that the significance of Helmand province is, in many ways, its relatio...
Liam Fox | 503 c880-1 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an extremely useful point. That is an argument for getting wider and better cov...
Ann Winterton | 503 c880 (Link to this contribution) As the ethnic makeup of the Afghan national army is moving in the opposite direction to the 2003 gui...
Denis MacShane | 503 c883-5 (Link to this contribution) I listened with great interest to all three speeches and agreed very much with what was in them. I h...
Ed Davey | 503 c881-3 (Link to this contribution) May I join the Foreign Secretary and the hon. Member for Woodspring (Dr. Fox) in paying deep gratitu...
Denis MacShane | 503 c885-6 (Link to this contribution) There is no doubt that the ISI was the godfather—if not the mother and father—of the Taliban back in...
Brooks Newmark | 503 c885 (Link to this contribution) Does the right hon. Gentleman share my concern that the Pakistani intelligence service, the ISI, is ...
Denis MacShane | 503 c886 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry, my right hon. Friend met him, so they overlapped slightly. Prior to that, the leading Go...
Liam Fox | 503 c878-80 (Link to this contribution) We very much welcome this short debate on this extraordinarily important subject. Let me begin by fu...
David Miliband | 503 c875-6 (Link to this contribution) No, I am sorry. Let me see how far I can get before the guillotine comes down on my neck. The Londo...
John Baron | 503 c876 (Link to this contribution) Will the Foreign Secretary give way briefly?
David Miliband | 503 c876-7 (Link to this contribution) That, frankly, is nonsense, I agree. In fact, I wish that I had been able to say that before the hon...
David Miliband | 503 c876 (Link to this contribution) I very much welcome the fact that we are now talking about a coalition effort throughout the south, ...
John Baron | 503 c876 (Link to this contribution) On that first objective, given that it will still take a long time to bring the Afghan security forc...
David Miliband | 503 c877 (Link to this contribution) I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman means in Helmand province or in Afghanistan more generally....
Andrew George | 503 c877 (Link to this contribution) Has there been an honest assessment of what the country would look like if the military forces were ...
David Miliband | 503 c877 (Link to this contribution) Okay, but this is the last intervention.
Ed Davey | 503 c877 (Link to this contribution) Will the Foreign Secretary give way?
Andrew Murrison | 503 c886 (Link to this contribution) In no way can the right hon. Gentleman interpret any chuntering that he might inadvertently have hea...
David Miliband | 503 c875 (Link to this contribution) I am very happy to do so. The Iranian Foreign Minister was invited, along with all the other Foreign...
Malcolm Rifkind | 503 c874 (Link to this contribution) The Foreign Secretary said that Afghanistan's immediate neighbours have all been invited. Can he con...
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 503 c875 (Link to this contribution) Does the Foreign Secretary expect the Afghan Government and, in particular, the Afghan Cabinet to ha...
Ed Davey | 503 c875 (Link to this contribution) Will the Foreign Secretary give way?
Andrew George | 503 c875 (Link to this contribution) Will the Foreign Secretary give way?
David Miliband | 503 c875 (Link to this contribution) I hope that I get some credit on the clock for these interventions, because it does not seem to have...
Shailesh Vara | 503 c875 (Link to this contribution) The Foreign Secretary is most generous, and I shall be brief. Will he assure me that he will use the...
Philip Hollobone | 503 c874 (Link to this contribution) Pakistani intervention on its own side of the Durand line has made a huge difference. How much confi...
David Miliband | 503 c874 (Link to this contribution) This is an issue that I discussed in Pakistan with its leaders last weekend. The Pakistani perspecti...
David Miliband | 503 c875 (Link to this contribution) We certainly want the burden to be shared as widely as possible, and the hon. Gentleman makes an imp...
David Miliband | 503 c875 (Link to this contribution) No, I am sorry. The hon. Gentleman is going to make his own speech anyway, so he should contain his ...
David Miliband | 503 c873-4 (Link to this contribution) I am pleased to be able to open this relatively short debate on the situation in Afghanistan. It is ...
Denis MacShane | 503 c887 (Link to this contribution) I was talking about bourbon as a drink of course, Mr. Deputy Speaker. What then do we have to do? W...
Subjects
Armed forces Deployment Casualties Peacekeeping operations Pakistan Terrorism United Nations Afghanistan NATO Taliban
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