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October 6, 2008

UK Commander: NATO Can’t Defeat Taliban
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In Afghanistan, a senior British military commander has said he doesn’t
believe the NATO occupying force can defeat the Taliban. In an interview
with the Sunday Times of London, Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith said, “We
are not going to win this war. It’s about reducing it to a manageable
level of insurgency that’s not a strategic threat and can be managed by
the Afghan army.” Carleton-Smith heads British forces in the volatile
Helmand province. His comments come days after Britain’s ambassador to
Afghanistan, Sherard Cowper-Coles, told a diplomatic gathering he
believes the NATO occupation is a failure.



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