UK seeks to speed up end to Afghan war
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
London, Mar 10, IRNA -- British Foreign Secretary David Miliband was paying a one-day visit to the US Wednesday to deliver a speech on war in Afghanistan at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The speech was entitled: "The War in Afghanistan: How to End It."
According to advance extracts of his speech, Miliband urged the Afghan government to put more efforts into the pursuit of peace talks amid fears that the war could be prolonged and cost even more British lives.
"My argument today is that now is the time for the Afghans to pursue a political settlement with as much vigour and energy as we are pursuing the military and civilian effort," said extracts given to the British press.
His call to speed up an end to the war came after six British soldiers were killed in the Sangin area of Helmand province during the first week of March.
In his speech, Milband said that the Afghans must “own, lead and drive” political engagement with the Taliban, but warned it would be a slow, gradual process and may ultimately require "international engagement, for example under the auspices of the UN.”
The mounting casualty toll in Afghanistan has, so far, cost the lives of 272 British soldiers, more than the 1982 Falklands war against Argentina and nearly 100 more than the figure in Iraq.
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End News / IRNA / News Code 1005151
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