Officer: We can’t win Afghan war
Britain’s commander in Afghanistan has said the war against the Taliban cannot be won, British newspapers reported.
It quoted Brig. Mark Carleton-Smith as saying that if the Taliban was willing to talk, then that might be “precisely the sort of progress” needed to end the insurgency.
“We’re 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,” he said.
He said his forces had “taken the sting out of the Taliban for 2008” but that troops may well leave Afghanistan while a low level of insurgency remains.
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