NATO, coalition forces will defeat Taliban: Blair

India
NATO, coalition forces will defeat Taliban: Blair
By Xinhua, Nov 21, 2006 - 4:47:45 AM

Kabul, Nov 20 (Xinhua) British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Monday that NATO and coalition troops have the will to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan, although this country has witnessed sharply increased insurgency and high casualties of British troops this year.

At an open-air joint press conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Blair said the Taliban would try and test the will of NATO and coalition troops, and 'we (have) got to prove to them that our will is great nevertheless.'

Blair, who was on his second visit here after the collapse of the Taliban regime in 2001, said: 'They (the Taliban) will not succeed if we show the will, and if together we and the Afghan people show the reconstruction and development, economic and social progress to happen.'

The Taliban displayed a surprisingly strong resurgence this year in Afghanistan as insurgency has killed over 3,700 people, a rate four times greater than last year.

Blair said Western countries used to ignore Afghanistan for quite a long time, but 'we were forced to recognise we couldn't ignore what was happening in this part of the world.

'The problem of Afghanistan is a problem to the world,' he added.

Britain has deployed about 6,000 troops as part of the 31,000-strong NATO forces in Afghanistan, while about 10,000 US-led coalition troops also stay here.

The bulk of the British soldiers are stationed in the southern Helmand province, which is known for Taliban insurgence and large-scale opium production.

A total of 41 British soldiers have died in Afghanistan since the 2001 US-led Afghan War toppling down the Taliban regime, while 36 deaths have taken place since the troops' deployment in Helmand in July, according to Blair's office.

Amid the high casualties over the past months, Blair tried to boost British soldiers' morale.

'We know that the only way to secure peace sometimes is to be prepared to fight for it,' he said when he visited a British military base in Helmand earlier.

At the joint press conference, both Blair and Karzai said Afghanistan has made great progress in the past five years, and more people have come to support the government instead of the Taliban.

Karzai said Afghans are 'in a hurry' to build a better future, while Blair said NATO and the Afghan government would take away any temptation for people to join the Taliban if they put emphasis on reconstruction, development, economic progress and security.

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