By Steve Hynd
The Pakistani press has noticed a letter by Sir Nicholas Barrington, former British envoy to Pakistan, in the London Times:
�Massive foreign bases encourage ideas that the Americans and NATO want to stay in, and dominate, Afghanistan . Many think that the West is motivated by a desire to acquire the natural resources of Iraq, and now Afghanistan . Indian involvement in Afghanistan doesn�t help. The Pakistanis consequently have been slow to recognise the dangers of their own Taliban elements. But the public are now at last backing the army in its attempts to rid the country of violent extremists.
�In my view NATO leaders should announce that they will withdraw from Afghanistan in, say, three or five years. In the meantime, they hope to have support for economic development. This will focus Afghan minds, and hopefully encourage a coalition of moderate forces. We should also devote more effort and resources to combating extremist propaganda, which has been all too effective.� [Emphasis mine - S]
Sir Nicholas, who was also Britain's ambassador to Afghanistan at one point, also says that scary stories about a Pakistani collapse into militant-ridden anarchy if the West withdraws from the country next door are simply "wrong and dangerous".
Yet more pressure on the Brown government, which is ludicrously calling for European NATO members to find 5,000 extra troops to complement Obama's expected surge. Britain will send just 500 extra, Germany 100 - and France and Italy have already said they'll be sending no more. Brown's call is a sop to U.S. feelings and nothing more.
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