Afghanistan: Fracture may lead to violent extremism says Gen Sir Nick Carter

The country could become an ideal place for international terrorism and violent extremism should the state fracture, the UK Chief of the Defence Staff Gen Sir Nick Carter has said.

It was important to see what happened in the longer term, Gen Carter told BBC World News.

“I think that we need to be really clear that if the Afghan people can stand together, if we can show a bit of unity and indeed the sort of defiance that I think we saw on the streets of Kabul and indeed on the streets of Kandahar last week, then there is no reason to suppose that necessarily will happen in that way,” he said.

Taliban officials have previously said they will prevent any group from using Afghan soil as a base for attacks against the US and its allies.

Read more: Why is there a war in Afghanistan?