Hague reins in ambitions for a peaceful Afghanistan

Securing every valley in the country was a "very, very" long-term target, he said, and stressed there would be no backtracking on David Cameron's commitment to withdrawing all UK forces from combat roles by 2015.

Mr Hague, MP for Richmond, told MPs on the Foreign Affairs Select Committee that the military objective was to train up enough Afghan security forces loyal to the Kabul government to protect it from militants. I think the long-term outlook, if there were to be no political settlement, is that the Afghan national security forces become large enough to be able to hold their own in Afghanistan," he said.

"That does not mean there will be a peaceful Afghanistan, but it does mean there would be an Afghanistan where the writ of government would run widely enough for that government to resist being overthrown by force."

The Foreign Secretary said the UK's ambition in Afghanistan was "our own national security". It aimed to ensure it did not pose a danger to the rest of the world.

"That does not mean we will necessarily arrive at a situation where every valley of Afghanistan is entirely peaceful, where there are no difficulties in the governance of Afghanistan, where it has reached a point where it's not 190th on the corruption league but 10th or 20th," he said. "These are very, very long-term objectives."

Mr Hague reiterated the timetable for reducing Britain's 10,000-strong presence in Afghanistan dramatically by 2015 and removing them all from combat responsibilities but he refused to "home in on an actual day".

His appearance came as the Ministry of Defence named a British soldier killed in Helmand on Sunday as Ranger Aaron McCormick 22, from Macosquin, Co Londonderry, a member of the Royal Irish Regiment.