Troops back home 'next year' - Cameron hints

Tuesday, 7 December 2010 12:00 AM

By politics.co.uk staff

Britain could begin bringing troops home from Afghanistan as early as 2011, David Cameron has suggested.

His comments came from Camp Bastion in Helmand province, as Mr Cameron conducted the now traditional pre-Christmas visit to British troops stationed in Afghanistan.

Cautious optimism about the progress being made in training up Afghan police and troops, together with progress against the Taliban, had led to Mr Cameron's suggestion of a withdrawal.

It follows his commitment to pulling all UK troops out of the country by 2015, reflecting a downscaling of victory aims among international partners involved in the struggle against the Taliban.

"We are not aiming for a perfect Swiss-style democracy in the Hindu Kush," Mr Cameron told the Guardian newspaper.

"We are aiming for an Afghanistan that has a basic level of stability and security, and a growing economy, so that people can share in its prosperity. You are beginning to see some positive signs of that."

Yesterday the Ministry of Defence confirmed a British soldier had been killed on Sunday in what was suspected to have been a friendly fire incident.

"It's absolutely tragic when incidents like this happen and my heart goes out to the family concerned. There will have to be a proper investigation to find out what happened and how this went wrong," the BBC quoted the PM as saying.

"The truth is that the US Air Force, the Royal Air Force have saved many, many lives in Afghanistan [and have] done a fantastic job."

A total of 346 British service personnel have died in Afghanistan since the Taliban was ousted from Kabul by coalition forces in October 2001.

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