Backing the opposition Northern Alliance in Afghanistan would be "a grave mistake", MEP Glenys Kinnock has warned.

Mrs Kinnock, wife of former Labour leader Neil, issued the warning at a fringe meeting at the party's annual conference in Brighton.

Mrs Kinnock said: "I think it would be a grave mistake to repeat the mistakes of ten years ago, when the Soviet Union was forced out of Afghanistan and the United States of course was then responsible for arming and funding and resourcing and training the Taliban, including (Osama) bin Laden at that time.

"And I think to look for that kind of solution again would be a complete mistake.

"I would very much favour ... the immediate involvement of the United Nations in those kind of decisions."

Foreign Office minister Baroness Amos argued that in the effort to construct an international consensus against terrorism, it was proving necessary in some cases to have contacts with countries and organisations whose philosophies were not necessarily attractive.

Lady Amos said: "We are talking to and trying to deal with countries and networks and alliances that we do not necessarily agree with everything that they stand for and everything that they do."

Ben Bradshaw, the Foreign Office minister with responsibility for the Middle East, said: "The role that Britain has played since September 11, and Tony Blair personally, has been absolutely crucial in ensuring that the US response has been as measured, as cautious so far as it has been."