By Martin Banks - 26th January 2010
The hearts and minds of the Afghan people are not being won
Thijs Berman
The leader of parliament's Afghanistan delegation says it is "amazing" that no MEPs were invited to attend this week's key conference in London on the security situation in the country.
Speaking on Monday, Thijs Berman, a Socialist deputy, said parliament had a "small but not insignificant" role to play in helping to restore peace to the war-stricken country.
"It is all the more amazing, and a great pity, then that the UK government did not deem it necessary to invite a single MEP to this important conference," he said.
The London conference on 28 January will be chaired by UK premier Gordon Brown, UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon and Afghan President Karzai.
It aims to bring key international donors together in an effort to demonstrate their support for the new US strategy and to re-establish development commitments for the country.
Berman, who chairs parliament's Afghan delegation, was one of the keynote speakers at a meeting on Afghanistan organised by the sub-committee on security and defence. The issue was also the subject of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday.
The parliamentary meeting comes at a time of increasing violence in the country and just days after an attack by 20 insurgents on government buildings which left five dead and over 70 injured.
Berman told the committee that the "negatives" of the current situation in the country far outweigh the "positives."
The Dutch deputy also questioned the value of the $200 billion - the vast majority of it by America - currently being spent on conducting the war in Afghanistan.
He said, "The hearts and minds of the Afghan people are not being won, al qaeda is alive and kicking, security is failing, corruption is back and, added to all this, coalition support for the war is dwindling."
He said the long-term solution to the problem was to "invest" more in the country, adding that "military action alone" was not the answer.
Other keynote speakers at the meeting included Christopher Davis, of the US Mission to the EU, and Zia Nezam, head of the Afghanistan Mission to the EU.
A parliamentary report circulated at the committee said that four months after the country's "contested" election, the "political and security turmoil" in Afghanistan continues.
It says, "The attack on 18 January occurred on the back of continued concerns over corruption and incompetent administration that hamper international and local efforts to convince Afghan's that they can bring stabililty to the country."
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