Speaking on behalf of the committee, Dai Havard MP said: “After over 12 years of operations in Afghanistan, the British people quite rightly expect a thorough analysis. We need to examine whether the national decision-making, military command and governance arrangements for the campaign were appropriate, and what we need for future arrangements.”
The committee also said that the insurgency “remains a strong and persistent threat”, and called for a process of “reconciliation” with the Taliban.
Phillip Hammond, defence secretary, said: “We can be proud of the contribution British forces have made to ensuring that the country cannot be used as a base for international terrorists to attack us and our interests”. He added that the government “will want to look strategically across the campaign as a whole to see what longer term lessons need to be learned, once the mission is over.”