Britain is increasingly becoming isolated from the United States and European members of NATO due to what its allies see as its misguided “go it alone” policy in Afghanistan, a respected expert on that country warned on Saturday. Moreover, it appears that British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is widely expected to step down at some point this year, is coming under increasing fire for mimicking President General Pervez Musharraf’s approach to the Taliban, including deals made with members of the militant group, even as its fighters step up attacks on international forces in Afghanistan.
Writing in BritainÂ’s Daily Telegraph, respected analyst Ahmed Rashid warns that the international coalition in Afghanistan is increasingly holding London accountable for contributing to the current chaos in that country, effectively undermining western efforts to forge some kind of stability there.
He notes that US and European NATO members have gone on record as telling him that they resent LondonÂ’s policy of making arbitrary peace deals with the Taliban, while at the same time refusing to put pressure on Pakistan to stop providing sanctuary to the Taliban leadership. The latter criticism has traditionally been reserved for Washington.
Western diplomats in both Kabul and Islamabad told Rashid that Britain’s “go it alone policies” were threatening military preparations for a major Taliban offensive expected next month.
Topping the list of criticisms is the peace deal secured by British troops in Musa Qala, in the southern province of Helmand, where operations are under the control of the British contingent of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) 37-nation alliance.
While British military commanders maintain that the deal was struck with tribal elders, reports have emerged that it was, in fact, made directly with the Taliban, a charge London denies. This is reminiscent of the increasing criticism levelled against Gen Musharraf over his Sep 5 North Waziristan peace deal, which US political analysts have slammed as having been concluded with Taliban elements. Islamabad also denies the charges, saying that the deal was secured with tribal elders.
BritainÂ’s critics have slammed its Taliban peace moves has having effectively given the green light to the return to Musa Qala of large numbers of heavily-armed Taliban fighters.