Britain’s defence chief, General Sir David Richards, warned on Sunday that the West will never defeat Al Qaeda, but added that the threat posed by the terrorist group could be contained.
“Make no mistake, the global threat from Al Qaeda and its terrorist affiliates is an enduring one and one which, if we let it, will rear its head in states, particularly those that are unstable. The national security of the UK and our allies is, in my judgment, at stake — that is why we are engaged in a global struggle against a pernicious form of ideologically distorted form of Islamic fundamentalism,” General Sir David Richards, the newly-appointed chief of defence staff, told the Sunday Telegraph in an interview on Remembrance Sunday. The al Qaeda threat currently comes from nations like Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, Sir David said, but added that it was unlikely to remain so in the future.
He said sub-Saharan Africa is also potentially at risk. War is the correct term for describing the conflict between the West and al-Qaeda and other Islamic militant groups, the UK Army chief insisted and added that it could last up to 30 years, unlike the other wars in the past.
The UK military chief said that it is impossible to defeat an ideologically-driven enemy in the traditional sense, and to attempt to do so could be a mistake.
“In conventional war, defeat and victory is very clear cut and is symbolised by troops marching into another nation’s capital. First of all you have to ask: Do we need to defeat it (Islamist militancy) in the sense of a clear cut victory? I would argue that it is unnecessary and would never be achieved,” Sir David said.
However, he was optimistic enough to assert that the threat could be contained. Sir Davis also said people can be weaned off terrorism by using education, prosperity, understanding and democracy. He cautioned that to believe that such an undertaking could be achieved “within the time frame of the Second World War would be naive in the extreme.”