Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles KCMG LVO, the UK's Ambassador to Afghanistan from 2007-2010 gave the 15th Sir Douglas Glover Memorial Lecture in the Richard Whiteley Theatre to sixth formers, Governors, staff and invited guests.
His talk, 'Britain in Afghanistan', left the audience much wiser about the most serious and prolonged military campaign involving British troops since the Second World War. With great eloquence, he explained the mistakes that have been made and the lack of understanding about the need for a political solution to bring the conflict to a close, and expressed some hope that eventually, the US and Britain would engage with the Taliban and Afghanistan's neighbours in a peace process which recognised that a purely military solution was bound to fail, as history should have taught us. This essential prerequisite for peace would allow this troubled country to rebuild a nation which all Afghans were proud to be part of.
After the Lecture, Sir Sherard answered questions from the audience, and enjoyed the school's hospitality in the Dining Hall, where he spoke to Sixth formers and answered their questions in a more informal setting.
