British Commander Calls Defeat of Taliban Unlikely

LONDON, Oct. 4 -- The senior British commander in Afghanistan reportedly told a London newspaper that a "decisive military victory" over the Taliban is impossible and it is necessary to "lower our expectations."

"We're not going to win this war," the Sunday Times newspaper quoted Brig. Mark Carleton-Smith as saying. "It's about reducing it to a manageable level of insurgency that's not a strategic threat and can be managed by the Afghan army."

The newspaper also quoted Carleton-Smith as looking favorably on a deal with the Taliban.

"If the Taliban were prepared to sit on the other side of the table and talk about a political settlement, then that's precisely the sort of progress that concludes insurgencies like this," Carleton-Smith said.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell rejected such sentiments, saying Saturday night in Washington: "The Taliban was driven from power and defeated in 2001. They and other terrorists are now attempting to undermine the democratically elected government of Afghanistan, but they will not succeed. The U.S. and our allies recognize this is a long-term mission and are committed to keeping Afghans free and secure."

The newspaper report came a day after the British government denied that its ambassador to Kabul had suggested that Afghanistan would best be "governed by an acceptable dictator."

France's weekly Le Canard Enchaine published on Wednesday what it said was a leaked diplomatic cable recounting talks between British Ambassador Sherard Cowper-Coles and a French official.

Cowper-Coles was quoted as saying that "the American strategy is destined to fail" and that the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan was "part of the problem, not the solution" by helping to shore up a failing government in Kabul.

The prospect of a dictatorship "is the only realistic one and we must get public opinion ready to accept it," the newspaper reported Cowper-Coles as saying.

Britain's Foreign Office said that Cowper-Coles had held a meeting with a French counterpart, but it insisted that the reported comments did not reflect the government's views.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband described the report as "garbled" and insisted that Britain does not support a move toward a Kabul dictatorship.

A Foreign Office official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the idea that Cowper-Coles advocated a dictatorship was "utter nonsense." The official said the comments attributed to the ambassador were likely to have been a distortion, or exaggeration, of what he had actually said in the meeting.