Brits worry about Afghanistan
2008-05-17 23:06
Kabul - There is "anxiety and trepidation" in Britain about the international effort in Afghanistan, and signs that things are getting worse, the leader of Britain's third party said here on Saturday.
Failure to defeat extremism and drugs production here would have catastrophic consequences, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said during a visit to Afghanistan.
"There is a great deal of anxiety and trepidation amongst the British public and politicians alike because everybody desperately wants this international mission to succeed," Clegg told reporters.
Failure would be dire for the country and the region, and would also be felt through "extra drugs on the streets of Britain and greater radicalisation amongst extremist groups", he said.
"I think the success is in the balance," Clegg said, adding certain recent events had "pointed in the wrong direction".
The politician, who was in Afghanistan for a few days, met the Afghan Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak, parliamentarians and diplomats in Kabul.
Opium
He also toured a British-funded drugs treatment centre Zindag-i-Nawin ("New Life") in Kabul, meeting doctors and heroin addicts.
Britain and the United States are the main funders of efforts to cut back Afghanistan's production of opium, which is used to make heroin.
The country produces more than 90% of the world's opium, much of it in areas where an extremist insurgency is most virulent.
Asked about the lack of progress in beating drugs, Clegg said it was difficult to implement a counter-narcotics strategy in the absence of security.
Lack of co-ordination between Afghan and international military efforts, as well as those involved in a reconstruction drive, was also a problem, he said.
Britain has nearly 8 000 troops in Afghanistan, most of them in the volatile southern province of Helmand, a stronghold for Taliban extremists, and is among the top donors to development projects.