By IRNA,
London : The Afghanistan Conference in London is “purely a political gesture” by the British government as part of the Labour Party’s machination to mislead the country’s public opinion, a veteran journalist and author said.
Yvonne Ridley also said that the British prime minister is trying to look like a world leader before the British public opinion who will have to cast their votes in the near future.
“Gordon Brown is desperate to put his print on the international stage much in the same way as his predecessor but he looks more like a bear on a unicycle when he tries to take to the world stage,” she told IRNA.
Ridley added that the London conference to be held next Thursday is designed to give the impression Britain is very much in charge with the US-led decision making and strategy for Afghanistan.
“Brown also has a general election approaching and on the domestic front he wants to look like a world leader who knows what he’s doing. This is purely a political gesture.”
Criticising the decision by Western countries to reinforce international troops in Afghanistan, she reiterated that replacing soldiers with independent humanitarian aid workers best fits the interests of the Afghan people.
“There is only one solution for Afghanistan and it doesn’t come out of the barrel of a gun.
American, British and other troops have now become the problem and not the solution. You cannot force peace or democracy using guns and armies. This is why Afghanistan will become Brown’s ‘Iraq’,” she said.
Ridley, also a member of the UK’s Respect Party, said there are strong evidence that Afghanistan has now turned into the “source of the world’s heroin production” after the invasion of international forces.
“The Taliban had virtually eradicated the growing of the opium crops in Afghanistan and now it is the one success story in the country! There are very strong rumours and evidences linking people close to the Karzai government as overseeing the multi billion pound drug business.”
She noted that the opium production is causing “huge problems” for neighbouring Iran, Pakistan and other countries as well as increasing the heroin trade in the West.