Fighting in Afghanistan would continue for years

The fighting in Afghanistan would continue for some years unless "more moderate" elements of the Taliban could be "assimilated into the political process," British Army chief General Sir Peter Wall warned Friday. In an interview with The Telegraph, Sir Peter said "the Taliban will be contesting the places we've left and there are these iconic places like Musa Qala which we fought over and suffered quite significantly ... It would be quite bad news if the Taliban were to get back into a place like that." He added that vital territory won by British forces during the early phase of military operations in Helmand province risks being lost to the Taliban as Britain completes its military withdrawal by the end of next year. But he explained that the fate of Afghanistan rested increasingly in the hands of the Afghan security forces who will be responsible for making sure the Taliban do not reclaim territory in the south of the country vacated by the British withdrawal. So far, 447 British soldiers have died and hundreds more have suffered serious injury during fighting in Afghanistan. The latest British soldier to die there was serving with the Royal Engineers when he was killed during an operation to the east of Kabul earlier this week. Sir Peter warned that British forces face a tough year as they complete the withdrawal of the remaining 6,000 troops before combat operations draw to a close at the end of 2014. But he added that while the military had been involved in a "tough campaign", British forces had achieved their primary objective of displacing and disrupting the al-Qaeda network so that it could no longer plot attacks against the West from safe havens in Afghanistan. "The Army's head is up," said Sir Peter. "People are extremely proud of what they have achieved."