Cabinet unity restored on Afghan trip
By politics.co.uk staff
Defence secretary Liam Fox has been forced to clarify his position on the role of reconstruction in Afghanistan after an early apparent Cabinet division emerged yesterday.
The difference of emphasis between his comments and those of international development secretary Andrew Mitchell has marred their trip to Afghanistan with foreign secretary William Hague.
Dr Fox said yesterday Britain was not in Afghanistan “for the sake of the education policy in a broken 13th-century country” as Mr Mitchell argued “building the capacity of the state to… deliver development” was “central to defeating violent extremism and protecting British streets”.
The defence secretary clarified his position by saying he believed the primary reason for maintaining a British force in Afghanistan was national security.
“But clearly if we are to make the long-term gains that will provide the stability to maintain the momentum when our armed forces eventually hand over to the forces of the Afghans, we will require a long period of development in concert with the international authorities, the NGOs and our and other countries’ aid programmes,” he said.
Mr Mitchell said: “Liam Fox does demonstrate that you can’t get a cigarette paper between his views and mine on the importance of joining together better and more effectively defence, diplomacy and development.”
