British Govt's new Afghanistan strategy: Wean Taliban-supporting warlords away

London, Aug. 30 (ANI): In a bid to end the war in Afghanistan, the Gordon Brown Government has chalked out a radical new strategy, which aims at approaching and swaying the Taliban supporters away.

The three important steps of the new British approach will include sending hit squads from the SAS to hunt down and assassinate Taliban commanders, deploying extra troops to destroy deadly roadside bombs, and increasing military personnel to speed up the creation of the Afghan army.

However, the main focus is going to be a major diplomatic offensive to win over warlords and tribal leaders who have backed the Taliban in the past, The News of the World reports.

A source close to Brown was quoted, as saying: "The more reconciliation among the Afghan people, the better. The priority is to target loose supporters who have backed the Taliban in their area because it is in their best interests."

"That means the foreign Taliban fighting in Afghanistan will become more isolated from the general population, which makes them easier to hunt down and destroy," he added.

And a diplomatic source in Helmand commented: "Many locals who have been aligned to the Taliban are ready to talk to the Afghan government. Once we can isolate them, the military effort can concentrate on the hard-liners. It is time to start that dialogue."

On Saturday, Brown met troops, military commanders and political leaders at the British Military HQ in Lashkar Gah and Camp Bastion base.

"I think we can get another 50,000 Afghan army personnel trained in a year. That will mean you will see, over the next year, the Afghan government taking more responsibility for their own affairs," he said. (ANI)