PM warns of long fight against Taliban

Matthew Tempest and agenciesMonday November 20, 2006 Guardian Unlimited

Tony Blair today described the battle against the Taliban in Afghanistan as a "generation-long struggle", as he met the country's president, Hamid Karzai, in Kabul.
The prime minister said he did not expect British troops to remain in the war-torn state that long, but added that al-Qaida had "deep roots" in the country.

And he admitted that the British army had been through "a very difficult past two or three months" in Helmand province, where 36 soldiers have been killed since June. Only five troops had been killed between 2001 and 2006.

The two men held a 30-minute press conference in the Afghan capital under extremely tight security.

Pressed on whether the Taliban had "time on their side" and could simply wait for western troops to leave, Mr Blair conceded: "Yes, the Taliban have got time, but the Afghan people have also got time. They are not going anywhere, they are not going to be intimidated out of a better future."

"Their game of waiting is a game that will not succeed."

In an apparent admission that public support for the continuing conflict in Afghanistan is waning, Mr Blair added that as well as making progress, "it is important we show that progress has been made".

"There is challenging news and there is good news," he insisted.

President Karzai added: "Perhaps we have failed in our PR in London if we have not communicated our achievements in Afghanistan."

Mr Blair admitted that opium production was up in areas of Afghanistan, but insisted it was down in others.

"For the Taliban to be ousted was a major defeat for them. They will try to get back in and they will use their links with the drug trade to do that."

"The Taliban thought they could retake Helmand this year - and they haven't."

"If your enemy is fighting you - and they are our enemy - then you fight back with more energy and determination."

Earlier Mr Blair addressed troops in Camp Bastion, Helmand province, telling them the future security of the world would be decided on the battlefields of Afghanistan.

"Here, in this extraordinary desert, is where the future of world security in the early 21st century is going to be played out," he said. >>>cont

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