LONDON, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- There can be no victory in Afghanistan unless the military strategy is combined with a complementary political strategy, the British foreign secretary said.
The international community is preparing for word from U.S. President Barack Obama on his long-awaited revised strategy for the war in Afghanistan.
Obama in a war council meeting with his top military and political strategists during the weekend agreed on a plan that calls for the deployment of around 30,000 troops coupled with trainers and civilian advisers to help prop up the Afghan government.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband in an interview with the BBC said, "There can be no victory unless the military strategy is combined with a political strategy, both on the Afghan side of the border and on the Pakistan side of the border."
Dubbed the AFPAK strategy, Obama earlier this year described Pakistan as a key partner to the regional struggle to take on Taliban and al-Qaida militants.
Miliband, echoing earlier sentiments that the commitment to Afghanistan is not open-ended, said reconciliation with moderate militants and local political reform would go a long way toward building a self-sustaining government.
"What I think President Obama will make clear is that any talk of the withdrawal of American forces depends on building up Afghan capacity to defend themselves, and that's why the central mission always has to be restated," he added.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, meanwhile, told lawmakers Monday he would send another 500 troops to Afghanistan in support of the international effort there.
