Britain could be facing an unwinnable war in Afghanistan, according to Liberal Democrat peer Paddy Ashdown.
Lord Ashdown claimed the government has made “catastrophic errors” and questioned whether the war is still winnable as a result, in an interview today.
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He attacked Gordon Brown’ for failing to clarify the UK’s objectives in the country and said the prime minister’s speech defending the campaign yesterday lacked “passion and charisma”.
Lord Ashdown, whose nomination as the international community’s envoy in Afghanistan in 2008 was blocked by the Afghan government, warned Britain may now have to brace itself for defeat.
He told Radio 4’s Today programme: “We have made catastrophic errors. Events are still moving against us in Afghanistan and we have lost a great amount of time in turning things around.”
Instead of debating whether our forces should still be fighting the war he said the UK should be “asking ourselves a much more brutal question.
“Can we win it from where we are now?”
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Last week Labour MP Eric Joyce resigned a parliamentary aide to Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth, criticising the government’s strategy in Afghanistan.
The sudden resignation prompted a keynote speech from Gordon Brown defending the UK’s continued presence in the country saying the government’s objectives were ‘clear and justified’.
However Lord Ashdown, who led the Liberal Democrats for 11 years, was unconvinced.
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He said: “In order to give the country a sense of why we are there we need a little more passion and charisma.”
Brown is warning that military success in Afghanistan is directly tied to securing the UK from terrorist attacks.
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He told his audience yesterday: “Each time I have to ask myself if we are doing the right thing by being in Afghanistan.
“Each time I have to ask myself if we can justify sending our young men and women to fight for this cause. And my answer has always been yes.
“For when the security of our country is at stake, we cannot walk away.”
The prime minister visited Helmand province last Saturday to pledge greater support for UK troops serving there.