"Medieval" Afghanistan needs care - UK defence chief

By Luke Baker

LONDON, June 24 (Reuters) - Britain's top military officer described Afghanistan as "medieval" on Tuesday and said it could take decades before the country shows steady development.

Air Chief Marshall Jock Stirrup said it would be 15 years at current growth rates before Afghanistan reached the level of Bangladesh. Civilian reconstruction efforts would have to continue long after military operations.

"This is not something that could be done in one, two or three years because we are talking about a country that is essentially medieval, that has very little in the way of infrastructure, very little in the way of human resource, that has an endemic culture of corruption," Stirrup told journalists.

"This truly is a long-term endeavour. I don't think it is that long-term an endeavour for the military. I think we are talking about some years but we are not talking about decades," said the chief of the defence staff.

"In terms of developing the country from an almost medieval status, that has to be an enterprise of decades."

Stirrup said the major threat in the country was not necessarily the Taliban or al Qaeda, but building up a level of governance that allowed the country to function properly.

Afghanistan has seen almost three decades of virtually uninterrupted turmoil and war, from the Soviet invasion in 1979, through the conflict between warlords, Taliban rule and then the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

Using the metaphor of a human body, with muscles attached to a skeleton to allow the whole body function, Stirrup described Afghanistan as a feeble patient that needed long-term care.