London, UK, December 12 2007 – Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in his speech today that Britain is winning the war in Afghanistan. However, unless his measure of success is the deaths of thousands of people over the past six years, the occupation of Afghanistan could only be seen as an unmitigated failure, increasing instability – violent incidents are up by 20% in the past year – worsening poverty and an ever growing drugs problem.

Taji Mustafa, media representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain, said, "Brown’s launch of a new plan for Afghanistan is an admission of failure. It is precisely because the war is being lost that he is proposing a more sustained military operation. It is because Karzai, the client ruler in the region is weak that he has proposed a step increase in economic aid."

"Today’s speech was an attempt to win the hearts and minds of the British people because the hearts and minds in the Muslim world have already been lost. The worsening security and worsening poverty prove to them that this military venture has not been about ensuring a more peaceful world or about humanitarian intervention, but has been about Britain fighting its corner in a new colonial Great Game. Sadly, the victims of this competition between Russia, Britain and the US, in this most strategically and materially important region, are the people of Afghanistan."

"The brutal occupation, worsening security and instability is the price extracted from the Afghan people in order to see the survival of Karzai and western interests in the region. It is the same story across the Muslim world where support for ‘democratic stooges’ drives the opinion that only an Islamic Caliphate, which will stand up for the people against colonialism and occupation, can bring stability and a new way forward."

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