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NATO's Senior British General Defends Mission In Afghanistan
Britain's most senior military representative with NATO has defended the Alliance's mission in Afghanistan, despite the number of civilian casualties.
General Sir Adrien Bradshaw told the BBC's Sima Kotecha.
"You have to look at the whole mission. Its quite common that UK commentators will focus in on Helmand Province which has always been a problem and will continute to be so. It is a primary focus for the insurgents. But if you look at the country as a whole, the changes that have been brought about in Afghanistan since the beginning of our engagement there, since the toppling of the Taliban are extraordinary. The changes to the social fabric of the country, to the education of children, including girls, the inclusion of women in political structures, all of that signals that Afghanistan has changed beyond recognition. And that should be recognised."
Of the rising civillian casualties in the country General Bradshaw said.
"There are civillian casualties, it's true, there is an active insurgency which is ongoing. As I say that will continue and we need to continute to support the Afghans as they bring more and more pressure on that insurgency, and take the political option alongside that. There has to be a combination of political and military measures."
General Bradshaw also suggested NATO could do more to stop extremism. He said the fight against Islamist extremism was multi-faceted.
"There is a lot more that can be done to support nations who are running their own counter-radicalisation programmes. In particular, for example, I've become aware of the programme sponsored by King Abdullah of Jordan and delivered by Prince Ghazi to train imams in the tolerant, traditional form of Islam, which incidentally was the traditional form that was found in the Balkans, and in so doing reduce the scope for radicalisation of populations there."
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