Afghanistan: National Army and Police

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 11:22 am on 10 May 2007.

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Photo of Lord Drayson Lord Drayson Minister of State, Ministry of Defence, Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Defence Equipment and Support) 11:22, 10 May 2007

My Lords, I do not have the breakdown of the Pashtun community within the Afghan national army and the police. If we have those data, I will write to the noble Lord with them. Our experience over the past year is that there is a role for the local warlords in the development of auxiliaries as part of the Afghan national army, but it depends very much upon the approach and the level of support that the particular warlords have to the governance within Afghanistan and the direction in which the national Government are going. This is an area where we have to show some flexibility.