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Corbyn presses for strategy review in war against heroin
MP JEREMY Corbyn has urged Prime Minister Gordon Brown to rethink his strategy in Afghanistan after official figures showed more than 2,000 had died in the conflict this year alone.
The Labour MP for Islington North has called on Mr Brown to smash the Taliban by seizing control of its drugs supply. Afghanistan’s poppy crop produces more than 90 per cent of the world’s heroin supplies.
During Prime Minister’s Questions last Wednesday, he asked Mr Brown: “Does the Prime Minister not think there is a need for a re-examination of our strategy in Afghanistan? We have been there seven years, but the poppy crop is at record levels. Would it not be better to start buying the poppy crop so it can be used for medicinal purposes and not for the drug trade, and in order to undermine the basis of the instability in the country?”
He added: “Should we not also set a timetable for the political dialogue that will ensure we can withdraw British troops as soon as possible?”
More than 100 British troops have died in the conflict, with three killed last week.
Mr Brown replied: “More than six million children are now in school, and there has been a 25 per cent fall in infant mortality. We will not set an artificial timetable but, as the capability of the Afghan national security forces improves, Afghan forces will take over more and more responsibility for their own affairs.”
He added: “We are continuing to fight the war against heroin as well, but I assure my hon friend that the reason we are in Afghanistan is to stop the Taliban taking over there and to stop al-Qaeda coming back in that country. Our aim is to remove the threat to the Afghan people and the whole of Europe, including our own country.” |
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