Anders Fogh Rasmussen issued his warning just a day after Gordon Brown gave his clearest signal yet that he wants to begin the process of ending Britain’s Afghan mission within months.
Mr Rasmussen said: “If we were to walk away and turn our backs on Afghanistan, al Qaida would be back in a flash. They would have a sanctuary from which to launch their strategy of global jihad, a strategy that is directed first and foremost against us.
Anyone who doubts the risk of a premature exit “is not living in the real world,” he told a Nato conference in Edinburgh...