Afghan mission failing, UK envoy says in leaked memo

BRITAIN'S ambassador has warned that the international mission to Afghanistan is failing and that sending more troops will only make things worse, according to a leaked, high-level diplomatic communication.

Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles is said to have told a senior French diplomat that "American strategy is destined to fail", and he warned that increasing troop levels would serve only to "identify us even more clearly as an occupying force and multiply the number of targets".

Instead, he urged his French counterparts to lobby the US presidential candidates, Barack Obama and John McCain, to avoid "getting bogged down in Afghanistan" if they win the election.

And in what appears to be an admission that democracy has failed, he urged the French to get public opinion used to the idea that "an acceptable dictator" is the only long-term option for Afghanistan.

His remarks are likely to sour further already strained relations between London and Kabul, only weeks after Gordon Brown held showdown talks with Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, over corrupt political appointments in Helmand.

Details of confidential conversation between Sir Sherard and François Fitou, France's deputy ambassador, were relayed to Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, in an encrypted cable last month. But the memo was leaked to Le Canard Enchaîné, a satirical newspaper, and published yesterday.

In Mr Fitou's account of their meeting, Sir Sherard said: "The current situation is bad. The security situation is getting worse. So is corruption, and the government has lost all trust.

"Our public statements should not delude us over the fact that the insurrection, while incapable of winning a military victory, nevertheless has the capacity to make life increasingly difficult, including in the capital. The presence of the coalition is part of the problem, not the solution. The foreign forces are ensuring the survival of a regime which would collapse without them. In doing so, they are slowing down and complicating an eventual exit from the crisis (which, moreover, will probably be dramatic)."

It comes as the top US general in Afghanistan joined a chorus of American voices calling for more troops. General David McKiernon, the commander of the Nato-led International Assistance Force, said yesterday: "Until we get to what I call a tipping point, where the lead for security can be in the hands of the Afghan army and the Afghan police, there is going to be a need for the international community to provide military capabilities."

Military sources in Helmand say the US plans to send at least 12,000 troops into southern Afghanistan. But officials know details of their deployment will rest on the next US president.

Sir Sherard told Mr Fitou that, while Britain had no choice but to support US policy, they should try to persuade Washington to change tack. "In the short term, we should dissuade the American presidential candidates from getting more bogged down in Afghanistan," he was quoted as saying.

British officials in Kabul refused to comment on the details of the French communication, but an embassy spokeswoman insisted the quotes in Canard were "not an accurate reflection of the ambassador's views".