WEBVTT

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there's uh filled in ST louis post

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dispatch as you know , the illicit

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narcotics is just exploding . It's up

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59% over the past year . The number of

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afghans involved in illegal drugs that

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has risen from 2.2 million to 2.9

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million in just one year . Can you make

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the kind of progress you're talking

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about as long as d illicit narcotics

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has a deleterious effect on the

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insurgency , on law and order on

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economic development . And if not how

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and when can this be turned around ?

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Well , it's a key

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question . And thank you for asking it .

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I mean , first of all , uh , the

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international community and the

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government here will not have succeeded

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until it's dealt successfully with the

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narcotics issue . So there is complete

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unanimity of view on this . The issue

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now is how do we go about dealing with

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it ? Um The Taliban's primary

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source of funding is uh , we're

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absolutely confident now , opium poppy ,

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which , incidentally for good ,

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for good Muslims is completely out of

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order . Yet another demonstration ,

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along with things like suicide bombing

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of the hollowness of everything they

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purport to offer the people . And I

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should say the people of Afghanistan

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extremely intelligent . They may not

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all have had a great education , but

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never ever confuse that with the lack

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of intelligence and they do see the

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hollowness and the hopelessness in what

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the taliban are offering and that's our

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great , great advantage . But returning

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to the link question of narcotics , we

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all need to deal with it . It's not a

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matter of how , when sequencing

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prioritization and where do we first

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tackle ? What is it the is it the

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warlords who are actually manipulating

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it and making a fortune from it ? Or is

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it the farmer ? Can we divide one from

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the other ? If so we must .

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Incidentally . If so , how do we go

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about it ? We do not want to alienate

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the farmer . We therefore have to give

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him not just alternative livelihoods ,

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which is a bit meek , a different

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truck to grow , which may work or may

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not work . We have to create an

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alternative economy , not least because

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60% of the afghan economy , particular

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south is actually based on opium . So

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if you cut it away the straight

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tomorrow the economy would collapse .

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That would mean awful hardship to the

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people which would cause us problems ,

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etcetera , etcetera . So it's a very

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complex issue . We are finding a route

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through it . We're all agreed it's got

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to be done and we now need to tackle it

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in the right order . And my advice to

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those whose primary role this is , is

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that we do it linked to the

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reconstruction development and

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improvement is government governments .

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But I described earlier , so that in

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these expanding areas , the people who

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might otherwise be growing poppy can

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see that there are other employment

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opportunities being offered that there

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are irrigation ditches for different

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crops being constructed and all the

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things that we're facing our efforts on

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and then they have no excuse either for

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growing poppy . There are other

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initiatives such as can we persuade

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some of the Narco warriors , the

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warlords to Invest their ill

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gotten gains in legitimate areas for

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some form of amnesty . Perhaps that

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would have an advantage from my

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perspective that even if any 20 or 30%

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of them could be persuaded to do this

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and it's a tough call ethically , I

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accept . But this is , this is a

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practical soldier speaking that if we

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could persuade him to do it , they then

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have an interest in protecting their

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locality as opposed to an interest in

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doing exactly the opposite , which is

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saying greater instability and all

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those other things because that's how

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they go about their business there . So

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there are schemes like that that I know

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President Karzai and his advisers are

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looking at , which we are obviously

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involved in on the periphery because it

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has a security impact . So I hope I've

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answered the question , we're all on

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side , it's a matter of how , when ,

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where and privatization and I'm pretty

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confident that on the back of this

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joined up work I've described , but we

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will find a solution to address or

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to ensure an improvement next year .

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General Jeff show go with stars and

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stripes , how long have you got to

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deliver on these reconstruction

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projects before you lose the faith of

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the , of the afghan people ?

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Well , actually it's a very good

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question , Jeff . Okay , thank you .

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Very good questions from you all

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because there's a misconception here .

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Uh , the afghans know , they've got a

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hell of a burden ahead of them . A huge

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problem to get from what they are today

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after 28 years of war and think what

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they did for us incident , I don't want

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to get in the moralizing , but we

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really do owe these people something

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not just out of self interest because

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we can't afford to return to the

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taliban that they've helped fight our

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wars for us and we now need to deliver

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our , our side of that bargain . And I

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think you'll find all the forces . They

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really do believe this . They are . And

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some of you , I know no Afghanistan ,

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they are a wonderful people . But um

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what we need to do is not deliver or

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attempt to say we'll deliver all these

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reconstruction development projects

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overnight because they know that's not

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possible . What we need to show is

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demonstrable improvement . I don't know

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if you can see my forum , but if we're

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there today , what we need to do is to

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persuade the people that it's all worth

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it by letting them see this upward

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trajectory of continuing improvement .

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And if we can do that and that is what

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our campaign is all about , then we

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keep the consent of the people , there

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will be ups and downs , but they will

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be able to see that we are succeeding

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and everyone knows it will probably

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take two generations to deliver . You

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know , I hope it will happen earlier ,

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A sort of India uh in Afghanistan or

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or even a Pakistan with its uh ever

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growing prosperity in Afghanistan , as

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long as they see we're getting there ,

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then they'll stay with us . If they see

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it's flat or worse as was looking

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likely earlier this year , it's

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downward , then we start to lose the

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consent of the people . And as you many

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of you know , that is what a

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counterinsurgency is all about .

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So how long do you have to show

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demonstrable progress before you start

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losing the confidence of the Afghan

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people ? Okay . Uh well ,

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I've talked about six months because I

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think if you like , in a military sense ,

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we've we demonstrated

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unequivocally now that we can defeat

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the Taliban conventionally , and there

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is no real strategic threat in my

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judgment to the government or to

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Kandahar , to Kabul . At the moment we

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will have tactical setbacks , but it's

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not going to threaten the essence of uh

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of what we're doing . But if next year ,

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um it looks like the people

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particularly south in some parts of the

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east are going to have to suffer

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another 69 months of fighting . And

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then still at the end of it , we

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haven't delivered on their on their

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expectations of progresses upward line ,

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then I I think we'll have a problem .

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Not all of them and I have been miss

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graded recently are going to fall to

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the Taliban or start being persuaded by

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the propaganda but increasing numbers

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will say , listen , we want you to

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succeed . But we can't wait forever .

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I've got Children here who need

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security , who need to be fed . We

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don't want to have the risk of being

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caught up in fighting . And we're happy

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to have fighting as long as we see

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progress . But if it's fighting and no

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progress , then at some stage , we'd

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rather have the rotten future offered

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by the Taliban , uh , than the the hope

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for future that we all wish you to

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deliver . But I'm sorry , you're taking

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a bit long over delivering . And it's

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it's why I'm not saying that we will

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have failed if we don't do it in six

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months , but we need in that six months

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we've got ahead of us because a

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wonderful period for us having

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established psychological ascendancy

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over them to get our act together in

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the way I described and start

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delivering on these things and to be

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frank , we can't this winter , then I'm

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going to be saying to all the other

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people involved in this , what more can

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we do for you ? You know , we're giving

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you these opportunities . There are

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still risks . But start these

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delivering because at some point , the

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military can do no more because we

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don't offer solutions to all the other

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complex issues that are confronting the

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country . We are just part of the

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solution and we're doing our bit your

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soldiers lives , my soldiers across the

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37 nations are all being risk , but

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it's got to be for a good purpose and

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that's what we need to do this winter .

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General Peter Spiegel at the Los

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Angeles Times , can I call upon the

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earliest question about your meeting

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with President musharraf ? Um the ever

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reliable british press um for you left

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painted your meeting with the President

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and not much more dire light . They

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were saying that you were going with

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some intelligence about Taliban

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activity in the in the border provinces .

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Also , some some complaints about the I .

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S . I . Involvement . What are you can

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comment on those reports because it

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seemed that you were sort of going over

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there with much more of a warning to to

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muster up to sort of crackdown , more

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hold the highest activity and on

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Taliban activity . And what was his

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response to that ? Well , that's

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another great question because I was

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really angry about that report . And I

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have to say the journalist in question

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and not many of you will know this was

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really angry too , because they talked

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about me going to confront the

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pakistanis and that nothing could be

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further from the truth . Um and I have

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actually had an apology from the sunday

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Times journalist because she was so

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angry and I know that you're all

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afflicted by editors . You want to see

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sexier headlines or or introductions .

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So there we are . And I did have to

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explain early on to the Pakistan , is

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that I was not going in a

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confrontational mood or mode

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because both having had long

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discussions with President Karzai

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before I went and with my own political

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leaders in NATO that we are in

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this together . Um Pakistan and

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Afghanistan , who do have differing

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interpretations over what is happening

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here in terms of the insurgency are

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quite clear that they've got to solve

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it together as a team . And that is the

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essence of the Tripartite Commission

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and that is the spirit with which I

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went to Pakistan . I was very well

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received and President musharraf

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without betraying confidences echoed

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what I've just said , that this is

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something that they need to deal with

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together . The Taliban are a threat to

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Pakistan ultimately , as much as they

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certainly are to Afghanistan and so

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they have a joint desire and need to

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deal with it . And actually all I am

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doing as a soldier working for NATO

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ISaf is facilitating what is a pretty

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good process between the militaries in

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order to confront it at the military

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level . Whether that develops into

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political dialogue of a similar nature .

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We wait and see that I am quite clear

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that intentions are sound on both sides .

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And that's the message that I returned

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from Pakistan with and it's the one I

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expected to return with before I even

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went there