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Secret talks between British officials and elements of the Taleban in Afghanistan have delivered significant successes, according to senior defence sources.
Gordon Brown's Government has denied that Britain has been involved in any negotiations with the Taleban despite the British Prime Minister's declaration during his recent visit to Afghanistan that the time has come to talk to the Islamist movement.
However, senior British officers currently involved with the Afghan mission have confirmed to The Independent that direct contact with the Taleban has led to insurgents changing sides and bringing intelligence which has led to their leaders being killed or captured.
The British authorities hold that there are distinct differences between different "tiers" of the Taleban and that it is essential to try to separate the doctrinaire extremists from others who are fighting for money or because they resent the presence of foreign forces in their country.
However, the policy of engaging with the Taleban is hugely contentious. Critics, some of them members of Hamid Karzai's Government, argue that this betrays the principle of establishing democracy in the country and also allows the Taleban to re-establish control under another guise.
Meanwhile, researchers say the British Army is losing the equivalent of one battalion a year as a result of illegal drug use.
This was more than the number of fatalities and serious casualties in both Iraq and Afghanistan, the Medical Research Council Biostatistics Unit claimed.
Analysis of figures from the Ministry of Defence by the body, found there had been a four-fold increase in soldiers testing positive for cocaine.
It said that figures showed that positive tests for illegal substances in the British Army rose from almost 520 in 2003, to 795 in 2005 but fell to 769 last year.
"The increase in individuals testing positive ... is a reflection of society as a whole," a spokesman said.
- Independent
