Francesc Vendrell

Francesc Vendrell, Outgoing EU envoy to Afghanistan

In a HARDtalk interview broadcast on 9 September, Stephen Sackur talks to the European Union's outgoing envoy to Afghanistan.

The former EU envoy to Afghanistan has sharply criticised Nato and US-led operations in Afghanistan saying there is no coherent strategy and progress is unlikely while George Bush remains US President.

In an interview for HARDtalk Francesc Vendrell said that "so many mistakes" were made after the US-led invasion in 2001 and warned that mounting civilian casualties were undermining support for the coalition.

Asked if the West had a coherent strategy for victory in Afghanistan, he said "no", explaining: "For as long as the Bush administration is in office it is impossible to change the Bush administration's approach to Afghanistan.

"They don't want to see any changes because they still hope to present Afghanistan as a success story."

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