Results 1-20 of 6,536 for speaker:David Miliband

Debate on the Address: Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Defence (23 Nov 2009)

David Miliband: indicated dissent.

Debate on the Address: Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Defence (23 Nov 2009)

David Miliband: I am pleased to open today's debate, and I apologise that a prior diplomatic engagement means that I will not be here for the wind-up speeches. Reviewing the debates that we have held since 2005 on successive Gracious Speeches, we can see that two sets of issues have dominated them. The first includes terrorism, weapons proliferation, and broader instability; the second involves the...

Debate on the Address: Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Defence (23 Nov 2009)

David Miliband: I think you made it clear, Mr. Speaker, in response to the point of order raised by my right hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field)-or rather, as it was not quite a point of order, an important issue none the less-that you would seriously consider this matter, also raised by the hon. Member for Carmarthen, East and Dinefwr (Adam Price).

Debate on the Address: Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Defence (23 Nov 2009)

David Miliband: As I think the hon. Gentleman will know from the recent Command Paper in respect of provision for armed services personnel, that is one of the issues under discussion, and I am sure that my right hon. Friend the Defence Secretary will be happy to say more about it either in the summing-up speech later tonight or in direct response to the hon. Gentleman. There were important undertakings for...

Debate on the Address: Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Defence (23 Nov 2009)

David Miliband: I think I have said to my hon. Friend on a number of occasions that President Karzai's commitment is to follow any evidence with which he is presented. He talked on Thursday about a culture of impunity, which I believe is important. I am sure that my hon. Friend would agree with me that the absolute key is going to be actions rather than words. While we welcome the setting up of units and...

Debate on the Address: Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Defence (23 Nov 2009)

David Miliband: It is very important to be clear about this. Members on both sides of the House have supported a British military presence in Afghanistan because of the security risks that would arise from the rolling over of the Afghan security forces by the insurgency. We know that Afghanistan was the incubator of international terrorism in the 1990s-and the incubator of choice for al-Qaeda. We also know...

Debate on the Address: Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Defence (23 Nov 2009)

David Miliband: Before the hon. Gentleman takes congratulations on his intervention from those sitting two Benches behind him, I will try to explain why I do not agree with him. There is not a contradiction, because that would suggest that the interests of the Afghan people and our interests in developing a proper partnership between the Afghan Government and the international community are different. The...

Debate on the Address: Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Defence (23 Nov 2009)

David Miliband: Put simply, because the Afghan national army and associated security forces are being built up from a very low level. All polling evidence, and any conversation with ordinary people in Afghanistan, tells us that they do not want to go back to the Taliban, that they fear Taliban misrule, and that, without foreign forces, their own forces would be unable to withstand attack. Over the past few...

Debate on the Address: Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Defence (23 Nov 2009)

David Miliband: If my right hon. Friend refers back to the Prime Minister's speech at the Mansion House last Monday, he will see that of the five areas set out by the Prime Minister, one concerned action against corruption. He went into some detail, for example in respect of the task force that had been set up two days before the speech, by Interior Minister Atmar, whom I met last Thursday in Kabul. The...

Debate on the Address: Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Defence (23 Nov 2009)

David Miliband: What the Prime Minister was setting out was a matter of common sense. The actions of the Afghan Government in respect of how they deliver services and make appointments will be important in determining how the Afghan people see their Government. That will be important to the success with which a counter-insurgency is pursued.

Debate on the Address: Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Defence (23 Nov 2009)

David Miliband: My hon. Friend makes an important point. Afghanistan now has a presidential system, but it also has some significant Cabinet Ministers who hold significant power. As for the opposition, they too have an important role to play. I met Dr. Abdullah in Afghanistan last Thursday. While he has made clear that he does not wish to join a Government of national unity in Afghanistan, he can play an...

Debate on the Address: Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Defence (23 Nov 2009)

David Miliband: I have not seen the reports to which my hon. Friend has referred, but I do not think that the parallel with the mujaheddin fight against the Communist regime-against the Russians-is very apposite. The truth is that in Afghanistan the state will never have a monopoly on violence, and it is as well to be clear about that. It is also true that informal security arrangements at local level have...

Debate on the Address: Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Defence (23 Nov 2009)

David Miliband: There is a very obvious answer to that: first, the Pashtun are on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border, and, secondly, they have been driven into Pakistan as a result of the 2001 invasion. I am afraid that that is the long and the short of it.

Debate on the Address: Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Defence (23 Nov 2009)

David Miliband: The multiple insurgencies in Pakistan reflect the whole history of the region, especially that of the entire federally administered tribal areas. The hon. Gentleman will know at least as well as I do that, since 1900, the history of those areas has been extremely fraught. Economic development has never taken place there, political integration with the rest of Pakistan has never properly taken...

Debate on the Address: Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Defence (23 Nov 2009)

David Miliband: I am happy to go into that, but the truth about the terrorist presence in the Punjab is that at its heart is an organisation called Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is conducting its terrorists operations on the issue of Kashmir. That is its mission. I will be very happy to write to the hon. Gentleman and to go through this with him. He raises an important point, but we should not simply believe that...

Debate on the Address: Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Defence (23 Nov 2009)

David Miliband: My hon. Friend is right to refer to this as a crisis, except for the fact that, given it has been going on for so long-since the war of last December and January of this year-that the word can become cheapened or devalued. My hon. Friend is right to raise that issue, however, and we continue to raise it. The number of aid trucks being allowed in has risen since early spring, but it remains...

Debate on the Address: Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Defence (23 Nov 2009)

David Miliband: My reading of the Goldstone report suggests that it raises issues for the state of Israel, rather than for individuals involved in the conflict. We have made it clear that the first step in response to that report is for a full and transparent independent inquiry into the allegations to take place. On conflict in Africa, in the past year we have seen glimmers of hope in Somalia, with the...

Debate on the Address: Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Defence (23 Nov 2009)

David Miliband: I will not give way, as I must make some progress. On Sudan-next door to the DRC-we will never forget the continued suffering in Darfur, and we will press Khartoum to act on the bold proposals of the former South African President, Thabo Mbeki, to promote peace, justice and reconciliation. The year 2010 will also be critical for the implementation of the comprehensive peace agreement. After...

Debate on the Address: Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Defence (23 Nov 2009)

David Miliband: We support director general el-Baradei's proposal, which he has developed with us, the Americans and the French. The argument is actually not about whether the LEU eventually goes out of Iran-some of Tehran's counter-proposals involve it doing so, although at a tempo and a stage not in accord with what director general el-Baradei has said. Despite the challenges, there are a number of...

Debate on the Address: Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Defence (23 Nov 2009)

David Miliband: My hon. Friend makes a good point. I understand the importance of the burden-sharing case; I devoted 3,000 words to trying to address it at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly last week. It is right that as the American Government come to a conclusion as regards the McChrystal review, all countries need to review their commitment to the NATO effort.