The foreign secretary of the United Kingdom says a future political solution for Afghanistan will include senior Taliban commanders in government.Speaking Tuesday at a NATO parliamentary assembly in Edinburgh, David Miliband said the Afghan government would include "high-level commanders that can be persuaded to renounce al-Qaeda and pursue their goals peacefully."
He said most Taliban fighters could be convinced to stop fighting.
Miliband's comments come a day after U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he wants to host a January 2010 NATO meeting to set a timetable for the transfer of Afghanistan to full Afghan control. "I want that conference to chart a comprehensive political framework within which the military strategy can be accomplished," Brown said. "It should identify a process for transferring district by district to Afghan control, and if at all possible we should set a timetable for transferring districts starting in 2010," he said.
Last week, Brown said NATO countries might send an additional 5,000 soldiers to Afghanistan.
Canada currently has about 2,800 troops in Afghanistan. The military mission there is slated to finish by the end of 2011.