A senior British official dealing with Afghanistan has lauded the contribution of country towards containing the threat posed by violent extremists but reiterated that more needs to be done.
Briefing international media on Friday at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) on the anniversary of the 2010 London Conference and the review progress since made, the FCO official said Pakistan has made heroic efforts against violent extremists within its borders.
"The casualties of Pakistan Army and their bravery is something the ministers both in the UK and the USA have long paid tributes and we still salute these efforts. At the same time, it is true that we would like to see even more efforts and would like to see even more co-operation if you like to cross the border between Afghan National Security Forces, ISAF and Pakistan forces to deny violent extremists on both sides of the border safe passage and safe havens."
The official thought it was fair to say that there was more to be done and they have spent a lot of time engaging with Afghan and Pakistan on formalising concrete operational shape.
"We would like to see more done and getting more cooperation with each other." On USA drone strikes in Pakistan tribal territory, the official said:" We assume our ally act between international law and international humanitarian law. They say what they are doing is legal. This is primarily not the issue with the British Government."
Speaking on the Afghan-Pakistan relations, the British official said there are encouraging signs of Pakistan and Afghan authorities working closely at several levels to try and reduce violent extremism and that's what they obviously want to concentrate on.
Asked about other members of ISAF withdrawing from Afghanistan, the official noted that there was no final end date for the international forces to leave the land-locked country. The official added that individual allies have set their own targets.
"ISAF envisaged that transition of combat forces to be completed by 2014. At that point Afghan security forces would not need to rely on ISAF combat operations."
However, the official said some segments of ISAF will remain beyond that period to help train the Afghan Army and Police force to achieve the numerical targets. The official dwelt at length on the constitutional and economic progress achieved in Afghanistan since the London conference and referred to the peace Jirga and the Afghan presidential election and Assembly elections.
The official said corruption remains a big issue but the overall security situation was getting better while claiming that insurgency has been reversed. Major-General John Lorimer, Chief of Defence Staff, who was also present at the briefing added that ISAF would continue to maintain its pressure on the Taliban and has met with a number of successes.
The FCO official said the institutional capacity of various Afghanistan departments have increased and the local governors have been able to set out and achieve targets in education and health fields. Responding to a question, the official said reintegration and reconciliation programmes have also met with success and the Afghan government was in touch with various groups to achieve peace.
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