Afghanistan

Lord Marlesford Excerpts

Wednesday 7th July 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord Astor of Hever]

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for that history lesson and for being able to think on his feet more quickly than I was able.

[Lord Marlesford]

My Lords, we all want to see the Afghan Government take more control over their own decision-making and, crucially, to earn the respect and confidence of the Afghan security forces so that the Afghan Government can exercise effective leadership and command over their own forces. Will the forthcoming conference in Kabul be able to make a contribution to this?

[Lord Astor of Hever]

My Lords, the Afghan Government will set out the further steps they will take to build upon this momentum at the Kabul conference. They will present their priorities, which are to bring about improved security, economic development, better governance and development for Afghanistan. This will enable the international community to ensure co-ordinated assistance in common support of the Afghan Government and will be a further step in the ongoing process of robust and public monitoring of the progress made.