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Afghanistan visit
Over Easter, off my own back and at my own expense, I travelled to Afghanistan to find out more about the prospects for our soldiers that have been sent there and the threats that face my constituents from this wild and very dangerous corner of central Asia. Two suicide car bombs went off in the main town whilst I was in Afghanistan. Afghanistan produces 80% of the opium that ends up on Gravesham’s streets as heroin. (Mercifully we have a more limited problem than many other It matters to us that it does not. Thousands of people living in Gravesham travel each day into London: from the high ground in Gravesend you can see our version of the Twin Towers - Canary Wharf - in the distance. Terrorism represents a major threat to us all, so we have to address the root causes in the countries from which it emanates. Helmand is an area the size of Wales, and it will be patrolled by 2,200 troops. The Afghan government is unpopular there, so they will be backing up a new governor who is not tainted for being a drug trafficker like his predecessor or most of the local police. The people there badly want security from the Taleban and reconstruction of things like roads and irrigation. If they can get these, they will largely turn away from producing drugs - and turn out the Taleban who visit their villages at night. My worry is that the small number of troops, and growing wish of the Taleban and groups like al Queda to create insecurity, will make reconstruction impossible. At that point we will have a serious problem - and television pictures shown all round the world may make us less rather than more safe from terror. |
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CONTACT Adam
