UK defence minister says on Afghanistan: al Qaeda will probably come back

Britain's defence minister said on Friday he was worried that Afghanistan was spiralling towards a failed state that could become a breeding ground for militants such as al Qaeda which would probably come back.

"I'm absolutely worried that failed states are breeding grounds for those types of people," Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told Sky when asked about Afghanistan. "al Qaeda will probably come back."

Wallace said the West had to understand that it could not instantly fix countries such as Afghanistan but should manage situations.


He said that Afghanistan's second biggest city of Kandahar and the town of Lashkar Gah was "pretty much now in the hands of the Taliban."

The speed of the Taliban advance has shocked the Afghan government and its Western allies who, led by the United States, are withdrawing their forces.

The Taliban controlled most of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, when it was ousted for harbouring al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.