LONDON: Britain's defence minister said on Friday he was worried that Afghanistan was spiralling towards a failed state that could become a breeding ground for militants such as al Qaeda which would probably come back.

"I'm absolutely worried that failed states are breeding grounds for those types of people," Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told Sky when asked about Afghanistan. "al Qaeda will probably come back."

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Wallace said that Afghanistan's second biggest city of Kandahar and the town of Lashkar Gah was "pretty much now in the hands of the Taliban."