Afghanistan troop boost confirmed
Merlin helicopters now operational in Afghanistan
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Monday, 30, Nov 2009 04:50
By Alex Stevenson
Britain will increase its troop levels in Afghanistan to 10,000, Gordon Brown has said.
The prime minister confirmed the boost in troop numbers in a Commons statement this afternoon, before US president Barack Obama announces his Afghan strategy tomorrow.
It follows a previous statement to MPs in which Mr Brown said further reinforcements would only take place if other Nato countries were making sufficient contributions.
The prime minister said countries other than Britain and the US had increased their overall contribution from 16,000 to 30,000 troops.
"Eight countries have made offers of additional troops and others are likely to follow," he added, but was unable to name them or the troop levels when asked to by Conservative leader David Cameron.
Mr Obama is expected to announce a major 'surge' of around 35,000 soldiers on Tuesday.
Mr Brown had made his reinforcements conditional on commitments by other Nato members, as well as a pledge by Hamid Karzai to train more Afghan troops and guarantees that British forces will be sufficiently trained and equipped.
The latter received a boost today with the arrival of the first RAF Merlin helicopters in Afghanistan.
Extensive pre-flight checks were passed a month early, meaning the British reliance on American transport helicopters will be diminished. The Merlins will be used to resupply forward operating bases with ammunition, food and equipment.
The chief of the defence staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, told Mr Brown earlier today the military had all the commitment they need to function in Afghanistan.
"If you look at what we have done with our equipment between August this year and December, then you'll see that we have increased our levels of equipment holdings by far more than the proposed increase in ground forces," he told the Cabinet's national security, international relations and development committee.
"So absolutely in terms of quantity we've more than met the remit."
In his statement today Mr Brown emphasised he had received reassurances from Mr Karzai about the increased role of Afghan security forces. These will increase from 90,000 to 134,000 over the next year.
In Helmand province, 5,000 will be trained and partnered by British forces, starting this month with 600.
Both the prime minister and Mr Obama have indicated progress in Afghanistan remains dependent on progress in neighbouring Pakistan, however.
Islamabad's stuttering efforts to address the Taliban's 'safe haven' on its mountainous Afghan border has been a persistent frustration for western diplomats in recent years.
Yesterday Mr Brown called on Pakistan to do more to seek the capture of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
"We've got to ask ourselves why, eight years after September 11th, nobody has been able to spot or detain or get close to Osama bin Laden, nobody's been able to get close to Zawahiri, the number two in al-Qaida," he told the BBC.
"We want, after eight years, to see more progress in taking out these two people at the top of al-Qaeda, who have done so much damage and are clearly the brains behind many of the operations that have hit Britain."
Mr Cameron claimed the prime minister's comments contradicted previous assurances about progress made by Pakistan, but Mr Brown denied there was an inconsistency.
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg welcomed the announcement, but said the new strategy came six months after his party began their demands for "precisely this kind of step-change".
London will play host to a foreign ministers' conference on Afghanistan on January 28th next year. Both Mr Karzai and Mr Brown will also attend what is being billed by No 10 as an "opportunity to set very clear benchmarks... as we move into the next stage of Afghanisation".