Briton: Extremists in Pakistan a Key Target

British Defense Minister John Hutton said yesterday that top goals for the military effort in Afghanistan and Pakistan over the next three to five years should include attacking the command-and-control structure of al-Qaeda and other extremist groups in Pakistan as well as stemming the flow of insurgents across the border into Afghanistan.

"The Taliban and al-Qaeda have got to know there is no safe haven," Hutton said in an interview with reporters at the British Embassy in Washington. Pakistan's military needs more help developing capabilities in intelligence-gathering, thwarting roadside bombs and building counterinsurgency efforts, Hutton said before a meeting with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates.

Taliban fighters and insurgents coming from Pakistan are focusing their attacks in Afghanistan's southern province of Helmand, where nearly 9,000 British troops are deployed, Hutton said. The result has been a stalemate in Helmand, he said, adding that "a stalemate is not good enough."

The insurgent strategy is "to outlast us" by awaiting the departure of foreign troops, he said. But he predicted that the already approved deployment of 17,000 U.S. troops as reinforcements, many of whom will be dispatched to Helmand, will make "a very significant difference." British forces in Helmand will continue to focus on the population centers, while the additional U.S. troops will extend the reach of the coalition throughout the province, which borders Pakistan.

Asked about initiatives to expand Afghan police forces rapidly by providing training to local militias drawn from tribes, Hutton said such work must be undertaken carefully.

Generating more local police is vital to providing an alternative to insurgents, he said, because in some areas "the Taliban actually do provide security." However, he stressed that "100 percent accurate" intelligence is required on those militias that will be armed, to ensure they are not hostile to the government.

Hutton said efforts to negotiate a reconciliation deal with the Taliban are important, but stressed that "it's better to negotiate from a position of strength."

British troops make up the second-largest contingent in Afghanistan, after U.S. forces, and are engaged in the most intensive combat the 100,000-member British military has faced since World War II, he said.

He expressed a hope that both NATO and non-NATO members would provide additional forces to assist with security for the upcoming Afghan elections as well as to train police and build up the Afghan army.