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Last night, . Here are some responses:

what Gordon Brown should aim for in the upcoming meeting with Nato:

"Brown should set aside his mis-targeted fixation with al-Qaida, a much diminished threat. Instead, he or his successor should be pressing for more focused, better defined use of Nato military power to protect Kabul and other main population centres and key trade and communications routes."

with Tisdall, naming al-Qaeda as our greatest threat and welcoming the proposed Nato conference:

"If the Nato mission in Afghanistan fails, it will encourage jihadis throughout the Middle East and the sub-continent, destabilise Pakistan and undermine the embryonic anti-clerical movement in Iran, a country whose nuclear ambitions remain the other great foreign policy headache."

Former High Commissioner to Pakistan Sir Hilary Synnott tells The World Tonight:

"The ultimate objective cannot just be to leave Afghanistan. It must be, as the prime minister has emphasised, to weaken the Taliban, to prevent the re-emergence of al-Qaeda and to prevent al-Qaeda's supporters claiming a defeat on our part. That would be the worst possible outcome."

Also whether, in his rush to assure voters of progress in Afghanistan, Brown risks putting that very progress in jeopardy. Gordon Brown's announcement and says it is recognition of public unease at a seemingly unending war.

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• Sir Hilary Synnott | The World Tonight
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• NIck Robinson | ´óÏó´«Ã½ | Afghanistan ifs and maybes
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