Britain must overhaul Afghan policies, report says

LONDON, June 25 (Reuters) An international think-tank has urged Britain's next prime minister, Gordon Brown, to put development and reconstruction before military action to prevent Afghanistan becoming a Taliban stronghold again.

Current military, development and counter-narcotics campaigns are being pursued in a manner that only feeds deep insecurity and extreme poverty, the Senlis Council said in a report issued today.

''Britain has a crucial role in the volatile south of the country and, with Gordon Brown taking over, he needs to take firm action,'' said Jorrit Kamminga, spokesman for the group.

Brown will this week succeed Tony Blair, who is retiring with his popularity battered by his support for the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

''If Brown wants to avoid a similar negative influence on his mandate, he has to go back to the drawing board in Afghanistan.

It's about development, humanitarian aid and reconstruction -- not military intervention,'' Kamminga said.

NATO troops have been fighting their fiercest battles with the Islamist Taliban militia since it was ousted in 2001 for refusing to give up Osama bin Laden after the September 11 attacks.

Britain contributes about 7,000 troops to a 30,000-strong NATO force in Afghanistan, and its forces make up the bulk of a NATO stabilisation mission in the southern province of Helmand, where the fighting has been most intense.

The Senlis Council said Britain needed to tackle the upswing in violence by renewing support for its mission.

More than 120 civilians have been killed in recent months during foreign forces' operations, sparking protests and demands for their withdrawal.

The Council said Britain should ''visibly improve life chances for Afghans'' by boosting immediate aid and development -- which too often lagged the military missions -- and stop forced eradication of poppy crops.

Instead of insisting farmers abandon their livelihoods, Britain should allow the crops to be used for medicinal purposes, it said.

''Misguided development and counter-narcotics policies provide the Taliban with authority, increased legitimacy and the support of the local population,'' the Council said, warning that violence was now spreading across even relatively secure areas and undermining the government of President Hamid Karzai.

Britain's Foreign Office said its policies were in line with the Afghan government's own strategy, and that eradicating poppy crops and improving law and order institutions to pursue drug traffickers in Afghanistan was still the right approach.

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