Afghanistan (Civilian Killings)
Oral Answers to Questions — Communities and Local Government
3:33 pm
Nick Harvey (Minister of State (Armed Forces), Defence; North Devon, Liberal Democrat)
We are able to say what success would be. Success would be an orderly and successful handover of security to a competent and able Afghan national security force by the end of 2014. Many challenges will face us between now and then if we are to achieve what remains an ambitious target, but that is what success would look like, and that is the strategic goal in security terms towards which we are working. However, I repeat the point made by the former Foreign Secretary, David Miliband: if there is to be a lasting peace in that part of the world,
a political process is needed alongside the security strategy. Unless we have both, we will not secure the lasting peace that I think everyone in the House wants to see.