BRITISH TROOPS will have to be withdrawn from Afghanistan until a new strategy is adopted to coax moderate Taliban onside, matched by extra international aid for the country, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has said.
Speaking in Bournemouth on the final day of his party conference, Mr Clegg, a long-standing critic of the British government on the issue, said that some in his party wanted soldiers to be brought home immediately.
“If things continue on the present disastrous course, then sooner or later that is a judgment which we may need to make. That is why we must change course. We have one more chance, one only, to turn things around.
“Success cannot be secured through military means alone. Development assistance must be bigger and faster. Talks with moderate elements of the Taliban network must commence,” he said.
More support must be offered by other countries “in place of the present patchwork of duplication, disunity and muddle”, while “the threadbare legitimacy” of President Hamid Karzai must be strengthened.
Following a difficult week at conference, marked by errors and mini-rebellions from party members, Mr Clegg said he was “immensely proud to lead a party that actually debates things, openly and democratically”.
However, he opted not to deal with the Liberals’ coalition options, and instead voiced his determination to be prime minister.
Defending his decision to highlight the need for spending cuts after the next election, which some delegates argue has endangered MPs’ seats, Mr Clegg acknowledged that “it doesn’t feel comfortable some of the time”.
“But we’re doing it because we know that the more we save, the safer our schools and hospitals will be. And we know that if we save enough, we will still be able to include in our manifesto, despite these difficult times, some of the pledges for new investment that we hold so dear,” he said.
Mr Clegg’s decision to speak about the need for “savage cuts” in a newspaper interview early in the week was implicitly criticised by his predecessor, Charles Kennedy.