Taliban, December 14: The new bishop for Britain’s armed forces voiced regret today if he caused offence by saying the Taliban could be admired for their religious conviction and sense of loyalty.
Stephen Venner said his comments in a newspaper interview appeared “incredibly insensitive,” as he underlined his support for British troops battling Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan.
The Anglican clergyman nevertheless argued that it would be harder to reach a peaceful solution to the war in Afghanistan if the Taliban insurgents were all portrayed as “pure evil.”
“There’s a large number of things that the Taliban say and stand for which none of us in the West could approve, but simply to say therefore that everything they do is bad is not helping the situation because it’s not honest,” he told the Daily Telegraph.
“The Taliban can perhaps be admired for their conviction to their faith and their sense of loyalty to each other.”
In clarifying his comments, Bishop Venner told BBC television that the words were were from a short section of a long interview.
“The way it’s come out …. makes it look incredibly insensitive and if that has caused offence, I am deeply grieved by it because that’s the very last thing that I would want to do,” he said.
The British Government’s strategy in Afghanistan includes attempting to divide the Taliban insurgency by splitting off mercenaries from the Islamist militant hardcore and encouraging them into the democratic fold.
Bishop Venner gave his “full support” to the British troops and their allies.
“The way that the Taliban are waging war in Afghanistan is evil, both in their use of indiscriminate killing and their terrorising of the civilian population. No religion could condone their actions,” he said.
The conflict has claimed the lives of 100 British soldiers this year alone, and 237 since the Taliban was ousted from power in 2001.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown vowed yesterday a renewed effort to defeat the Taliban as he made an unannounced visit to troops in Afghanistan.
–Agencies