By IRNA,
London : British Defence Secretary Liam Fox admitted Wednesday that mistakes have been made in the nine-year war in Afghanistan but insisted that the right strategy is now in place.
Speaking at the annual Conservative conference in Birmingham central England, Fox told delegates to be patient and realistic with the objective of having a “stable enough Afghanistan’.
“It is fashionable to be pessimistic about Afghanistan but there is real progress being made,” he said, calling for the focus on the “successes” in the war and not just the difficulties.
“In Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand, the security situation has been transformed. The civilian airport is open with three flights a day to Kabul. The poppy harvest is down and the bazaars are open for business,” Fox listed.
“We must not see Afghanistan as just being Helmand. Although most of the fighting takes place there only 3.5% of the whole population of Afghanistan live in Helmand,” he said.
The defence secretary used the conference, the first since the Conservative-led coalition government came to power, to announce the creation of a 24-hour support line for war veterans and funding of 30 dedicated mental health nurses to help those struggling with the after-effects of conflict.
At a separate fringe meeting, he said that “the unacceptably high level of suicide among our veterans is a matter of national shame and it does take priority over any investment in other welfare issues I am looking at.”
In his speech, Fox also referred to the controversy over planned government spending cuts and concern about its impact on the military, saying never has a defence review been carried out in such ‘toxic’ economic circumstances.
But while admitting that Britain will not be able to do as much as he would like, he restated the government’s commitment to maintaining the UK’s nuclear deterrent by replacing the Trident missile system.