British PM makes surprise visit to Afghanistan

Early wins in a major anti-Taliban push in southern Afghanistan offered a "beacon of hope," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Saturday during a surprise visit to troops.



During a lightning eight-hour visit to Helmand province, Brown cautioned that it was vital to "win the peace as well as the war" and vowed that British troops would stay in Afghanistan until their job was done.

"That's why it's so crucial that in just 20 days since the start of the operation, the combined international and Afghan forces, military and civilian, have begun turning a stronghold of brutal Taliban insurgency into a beacon of hope for local people," he told reporters.

Before Brown left Camp Bastion, one of the biggest military bases in Afghanistan, Britain's Ministry of Defence reported the death of a British soldier in an explosion in Helmand Friday.

The death in the Sangin district, which the ministry said was not connected to the ongoing assault that Brown referred to, brings to 269 the number of British troops killed since operations in Afghanistan began in October 2001.

In what is likely to be his last trip to Afghanistan before a general election expected on May 6, Brown met British troops at Camp Bastion and two frontline posts in Nad Ali, including one taken in Operation Mushtarak, currently under way in Helmand.

Mushtarak, in which US Marines have led 15,000 troops against Taliban insurgents in two poppy growing districts, Marjah and Nad Ali, is the first test of a counter-insurgency strategy for speeding an end to the war.

Around 4,000 of Britain's 10,000 troops in Afghanistan have been taking part in the campaign launched on February 13, in which troops are now consolidating control of the opium-producing target area.

Commanders on the ground have said they do not yet have complete control, but are paving the way for Afghan-led security and civil services.

Recent gains in Operation Mushtarak are set to be followed up in other Taliban strongholds in Helmand and neighbouring Kandahar province over the coming 12-18 months.

But the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in a strong statement issued in Kabul, warned that civilian control in the the Marjah area was still elusive due to the Taliban's lingering presence in the area.

The Marjah farming area had been so heavily mined with IEDs that civilians were largely confined indoors and the sick and injured could not be evacuated for help, the ICRC said.

"Improvised mines and other explosive devices are posing a deadly threat to civilians in Marjah," Reto Stocker, head of the ICRC in Kabul, was quoted in a statement as saying.

"They make it almost impossible for people to venture out or to evacuate the sick and wounded, who therefore receive little or no medical care," he said.

The Taliban is the only party in the Afghan war to use IEDs, said Bijan Farnoudi, the ICRC's spokesman in Kabul, adding: "The improvised mines in Marjah have been left behind in huge numbers by the Taliban."

Brown said training local police was a pivotal part of the plan to hand security over to the Afghans so foreign troops can start withdrawing.

"We will do everything we can to support you with the equipment necessary and the resources you need," Brown told an audience at the Helmand police training centre on the outskirts of Laskhar Gah, Helmand's capital.

Brown flew to Afghanistan after giving evidence to Britain's public inquiry into the Iraq war on Friday, when he denied accusations that he did not properly fund the military in that conflict when he was finance minister, before taking over as prime minister from Tony Blair in 2007.

"I've been planning this visit for some time," he told reporters in Helmand. "The last four years I have come here around this time just to meet the troops to see what progress has been made."

Brown vows new push to defeat Taliban

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown vowed a renewed effort to defeat the Taliban insurgency during a visit to Afghanistan on Sunday, hailing the next few months as critical.

Brown was on an unannounced visit two weeks after ordering 500 extra British troops into the war alongside a surge of 30,000 American forces as part of a sweeping new US strategy to turn around the eight-year war.

He held talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at a military base in Kandahar, the southern province where the Taliban were born and one of the deadliest battlefields for NATO and US troops since the 2001 US-led invasion.

"The combined effort of allied forces with the Afghan government is the way we will defeat the insurgency, the way we will stop Al-Qaeda having any space to operate in Afghanistan," he told a news conference with Karzai.

"I think the next few months are obviously critical," Brown had earlier told reporters travelling with him.

"What we need to show is... a determination to take on the Taliban and weaken them," Brown said.

The extra deployment, which will boost the number of British forces in Afghanistan to more than 10,000, would arrive "in the next few days", he added.

The prime minister held over an hour of talks with Karzai, who is under huge Western pressure to clamp down on corruption and form a transparent government after winning a fraud-tainted election in August.

Karzai, who has yet to unveil his new cabinet nearly a month after being inaugurated for another five-year term, pledged do "a lot more" in building an accountable administration.

"Sure, Afghanistan needs to do a lot more, primarily for the Afghan people," he said.

"We need to have a government that is responsive to the needs of the Afghan people. That's our responsibility and we will be taking a lot more measures."

The British leader welcomed his remarks.

"Of course, people will judge what happens by results, but I think we have seen a determination on the part of President Karzai to take new action against corruption," Brown said.

The visit is Brown's third to Afghanistan this year and comes in the run-up to Christmas, which many troops will spend away from their families fighting a war that is increasingly unpopular at home.

British losses so far this year stand at 100, making 2009 the deadliest year for the country's armed forces since the 1982 Falkland's War. Brown admitted it had been "a difficult year" but said morale was high among troops.

Officials said Brown's visit, which saw him stay overnight Saturday on the base at Kandahar, marked the first time a British prime minister had spent a night in a theatre of war in living memory.

Facing serious questions at home about the equipping of the British mission, the second-largest behind the US contingent, the British government has sent more military hardware to Afghanistan including helicopters.

Referring to the increase in equipment, some of which he inspected, Brown said: "These things are being done in a way that is calculated to weaken the Taliban and show they can't win this campaign."

British troops are based in Helmand, the heartland of opium production in Afghanistan which has become one of the deadliest battlegrounds in the country.

Brown said the Afghan army, currently 90,000 strong, will increase over the next year to around 135,000 and some Afghan districts could be handed over to local control in 2010.

Gordon Brown visits UK troops and Afghan leader

Gordon Brown has been visiting British troops in Afghanistan to show his support in the run-up to Christmas.

The prime minister inspected new equipment and held talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kandahar.

He said the next few months would be "critical" and urged the Afghan government to take a bigger role in confronting the Taliban.

Unusually, Mr Brown spent the night in the country, rather than flying in and out in one day.

He slept in "basic quarters" at the Kandahar air base, the headquarters of Nato troops in the south of the country.

There are currently about one or two attacks a week by Taliban in the Kandahar area.

The prime minister said: "I wanted to be here with the troops to thank them for what they are doing.

"I wanted to see what it was like working with them."

This year alone, 100 British service personnel have been killed in Afghanistan.

In a joint press conference with Mr Karzai, the prime minister acknowledged that casualty numbers had been high and paid tribute to their "bravery, professionalism and dedication".

He said: "I feel for all of those families who have lost loved ones, particularly as we move towards Christmas.

"I know this has been a difficult year."

Mr Brown said he felt more confident about the conflict following decisions by the US and Britain to send in more troops.

He insisted Afghanistan's border regions were "the epicentre of global terrorism" and operations there were directly related to security on British streets.

Both leaders denied suggestions of a rift between them.

Click here for the full report on BBC online

British soldier killed in Afghan hostage rescue

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has issued a statement on an operation in Afghanistan to free hostage Stephen Farrell, a journalist of dual British/Irish nationality.

The Prime Minister said:

"Last night, Stephen Farrell, a journalist of dual British/Irish nationality, was freed from Taliban captivity in a British operation supported by the Afghan authorities and our NATO allies.

"He is now safe and well, receiving support from embassy staff and undergoing medical checks. Sadly, we were unable to rescue Stephen's Afghan interpreter, Sultan Munadi, and we send his family our condolences.

"It is with very deep sadness that I must also confirm that, while acting with the greatest of courage in this most dangerous mission, one member of the British Armed Forces lost his life.

"His family has been informed, and our immediate thoughts are with them. His bravery will not be forgotten.

"This operation was carried out after extensive planning and consideration. Those involved knew the high risks they were running. That they undertook it in such circumstances showed breathtaking heroism. I also want to thank the Afghan authorities and our NATO allies for their support.

"Hostage taking is never justified, and the UK does not make substantive concessions, including paying ransoms. But whenever British nationals are kidnapped, we and our allies will do everything in our power to free them.

"As we all know, and as last night once again demonstrated, our Armed Forces have the skill and courage to act. They are truly the finest among us, and all of us in Britain pay tribute to them, and to the families and communities who sustain them in their awesome responsibilities."

Brown pledges extra troop support

Gordon Brown has promised more support for UK troops in Afghanistan, during a surprise visit to the country.

Speaking from Helmand province, he pledged greater protection for troops from roadside bombs, which hours earlier claimed another British life.

His plans, which include the training of another 50,000 Afghan soldiers, came in the wake of criticism that UK forces are under-resourced.

The Conservatives said he was "woefully slow" in properly equipping soldiers.

As the prime minister was flying home from Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence announced the death of the 208th UK soldier to have died in Afghanistan since 2001.

A Royal Marine was killed on foot patrol in Helmand early on Saturday morning.

On his fourth visit to the country this year, the prime minister said that getting another 50,000 Afghan troops trained by November 2010 would enable them to "take more responsibility for their own affairs".

He said new equipment was being brought in to the field, such as more armoured vehicles.

"[This is] new equipment simply to give better protection to our forces and at the same time to make them more manoeuvrable.

"That - working with a big lift in the Afghan forces - is going to be the next stage of the post-election effort in Afghanistan."

In 40-degree heat in the Helmand capital of Lashkar Gah, Mr Brown viewed the reconstruction work being carried out, and met Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, Chief of the Defence Staff, and US commander General Stanley McChrystal.

In promising greater help to counter the threat of improvised devices - which have caused a heavy toll among British forces - Mr Brown said another 200 extra anti-IED (improvised explosive device) specialists would be deployed in the autumn.

There would also be more unmanned surveillance aircraft and better protected vehicles, he said.

All these measures are to be paid for out of government reserves, over and above the defence budget.

The BBC's deputy political editor, James Landale, who was in Helmand with the prime minister, said that training that number of Afghans so quickly could potentially require an increase in the number of British troops.

There are currently 9,000 UK troops in the country, mostly in Helmand.

Shadow defence secretary Liam Fox said: "IEDs are the single biggest killer of British forces in Afghanistan and this government has been woefully slow to provide our troops with the equipment they need to minimise the risk to them in a very dangerous environment.

"While we welcome this much needed increase in counter-IED capability, the prime minister has left many questions unanswered."

These include, said Mr Fox, what will happen to the extra 900 troops temporarily deployed to provide increased security for the elections, and why so few of the 158 Ridgback protected vehicles ordered two years ago were now on the frontline.

Karzai talks

Former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, Colonel Richard Kemp, said increasing Afghan Army numbers from 85,000 to 135,000 in that time frame was possible if the US and UK invested sufficient resources.

"It's essential we get them trained to give us some sort of exit strategy," he said, otherwise there was a danger the mission would lose public support and "drift".

While in the country, the prime minister spoke on the phone with President Hamid Karzai and his leading opponent, Abdullah Abdullah.

British troops had been trying to secure parts of Helmand ahead of the presidential election nine days ago.

The latest results showed President Karzai widening his lead and edging closer to the 50% required to avoid a run-off.

BBC correspondent Chris Morris, in Kabul, said that counting of votes has been slow amid "massive" allegations of fraud directed at the government.

Last week the new head of the British army, General Sir David Richards, pledged to focus on the military effort in Afghanistan, as he took over the role.

Gordon Brown makes surprise visit to rally forces in Helmand

As the premier hints more troops may be sent to support a new surge, a Royal Marine is killed

By Brian Brady, Whitehall Editor

Gordon Brown made a surprise visit to the front line in Afghanistan yesterday as part of a concerted effort to tackle criticisms that the battle against the Taliban was being undermined by troop and equipment shortages.

Amid spiralling concerns over the human cost of the campaign, the Prime Minister arrived in Helmand province to pledge further protection against the lethal roadside bombs that have helped push the British death toll beyond 200 in recent months. But the trip was overshadowed when the Ministry of Defence announced, soon after he left the country, that a Royal Marine had been killed in an explosion during a foot patrol in the area, bringing total British losses to 208.

Reports from Afghanistan last night suggested that Mr Brown had hinted that he could send more troops to back up another "surge" against the Taliban in the coming months. However, neither officials in London nor those travelling with the Prime Minister could substantiate the claims.

In a calculated response to rumours of an increase in the international presence in Afghanistan, Mr Brown highlighted the Afghans' responsibility for helping to restore order themselves. He said local forces should accelerate their training as part of a strategy to increase Afghan control over the country. The Prime Minister said the target of training 134,000 Afghan soldiers by the end of 2011 should be brought forward to November 2010. He also pledged British help to double the number of recruits – to 4,000 a month – to an army currently just under 90,000 strong.

"We can get another 50,000 Afghan armed personnel trained in the next year," Mr Brown said, during a two-hour visit to Camp Bastion in Lashkar Gah. "Stepping that up means Afghans take more responsibility for their own affairs, backed up by partnering and mentoring by British forces."

The decision to concentrate on the Afghans' role in rebuilding their own country comes as Britain is expected to come under US pressure to increase its troop presence beyond its present level of around 9,000. The Independent yesterday revealed that, once the Afghan election result is clear, General Stanley McChrystal, the top US commander in Afghanistan, will ask for 20,000 more international troops. Mr Brown held talks with General McChrystal as part of his visit.

But the question of sending more troops to Afghanistan presents critical problems for Mr Brown, as support for the conflict has plummeted and the number of British casualties has soared during recent months.

Mr Brown spoke by phone to the incumbent Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, and his challenger Abdullah Abdullah. He said he made it "absolutely clear" to both that the UK expects Afghanistan to train more soldiers.

The latest polling released yesterday showed President Karzai extending his lead in last week's vote, but still falling short of the 50 per cent needed to avoid a run-off. The Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan said he had 46 per cent of the vote and Mr Abdullah 31 per cent, with barely a third of the votes counted. The country will be plunged into a run-off if no candidate gets more than 50 per cent of the first-round vote, and final results of the election are not expected until the middle of next month.

During his visit, Mr Brown discussed improved techniques for detecting and disabling improvised explosive devices (IEDs), which have killed three-quarters of the soldiers who have died in Afghanistan. He said Britain would double the number of specialist troops it has in the country for dealing with the bombs, from 200 to 400, by the end of the year and increase flights by unmanned surveillance aircraft that provide intelligence to track and target bomb makers.

Mr Brown said: "This has been a most difficult summer in Afghanistan, because the Taliban have tried to prevent elections taking place. I think our forces have shown extraordinary courage during this period.

"They know the reason why we are here and that our security at home depends on a stable Afghanistan – no return of the Taliban and no role for al-Qa'ida in the running of Afghanistan."

The Prime Minister flew into Lashkar Gah, where he was joined by Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, Chief of the Defence Staff, and General McChrystal.

The shadow Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, said Mr Brown had been "woefully slow" to provide British troops with the equipment and claimed that his visit had failed to answer a number of significant questions about the British mission in Afghanistan, including the supply of Ridgeback armoured vehicles.

Afghan strategy 'right', PM says - BBC

Gordon Brown has defended the government's Afghanistan strategy, saying it is the right one despite a "dangerous battle" ahead.

The prime minister said the operation was aimed at preventing terrorism coming to the UK, after 15 British soldiers were killed in 10 days.

One soldier who died on Thursday has been named as Rifleman Daniel Hume, 22, from 4th Battalion The Rifles.

Rifleman Hume died in an explosion in southern Afghanistan.

Colleagues described him as "exceptionally gifted", while his family said the Berkshire-born soldier had found his place in the world since joining the Army.

The current major assault against the Taliban in Helmand aims to improve security ahead of next month's Afghan elections. Many UK troops are fighting in the south under the auspices of Operation Panchai Palang or Panther's Claw.

Anti-war campaigners have claimed the conflict is "unwinnable".

Heroin trade

Mr Brown, who will appear before the Commons Liaison Committee next week, told its members the Afghanistan-Pakistan border had emerged as "a new crucible of terrorism" linked to three-quarters of the most serious plots against the UK.

In the letter, he said: "So our purpose is clear: to prevent terrorism coming to the streets of Britain.

"Our security depends on strengthening the Pakistan and Afghan governments to defeat both al-Qaeda and also the Pakistan and Afghan Taliban."

He added that if the Taliban were allowed to "overwhelm Pakistan's democracy", al-Qaeda would have "greater freedom from which to launch terrorist attacks across the world".

Mr Brown went on: "So this is a fight to clear terrorist networks from Afghanistan and Pakistan, to support the elected governments in both countries against the Taliban, to tackle the heroin trade which funds terrorism and the insurgency, and to build longer term stability."

He also paid tribute to "the fearless work of our troops" and added that despite the "tragic losses", morale remained high.

Britain to send 700 more to Afghanistan

Britain will send 700 more troops to Afghanistan mainly to provide security during upcoming elections, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Wednesday.

Brown said the extra forces would be withdrawn by early next year, The New York Times reported. Once the 700 soldiers are in Afghanistan, Britain will have a force of 9,000 there.

"For Afghanistan, our strategy is to ensure the country is strong enough as a democracy to withstand and overcome the terrorist threat," Brown said.

Brown recently returned from Afghanistan and Pakistan. Speaking to Parliament, he suggested he agrees with U.S. President Barack Obama that there is one fight in the two countries.

"The greatest international priority is the border areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan," Brown told Parliament. "They are the crucible of global terrorism. They are the breeding ground for international terrorists. They are the source of a chain of terror, which links the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan to the streets of Britain."

Brown In Afghanistan: 'It Is Relatively Safe' - Sky

Gordon Brown has visited Kabul to finalise what he calls a new approach to dealing with Afghanistan and Pakistan - which he will unveil to Parliament on Wednesday.

It involves handing over Afghanistan, province by province, to Afghan control. A similar approach worked in Iraq.

Britain is helping train more Afghan police and the size of the army there will virtually double by the end of 2011.

The Prime Minister visited Helmand province for breakfast with British troops and a meeting with tribal elders.

With elections due here in August, Britain is providing £15m to help ensure those polls are free and fair.

At Camp Bastion, the Prime Minister's message to troops was upbeat.

He told them two thirds of Afghanistan is "relatively safe" and things are improving.

But there is a problem: what Gordon Brown is calling the "crucible of terror" - the ungovernable border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

This is the stronghold of al Qaeda and of the Taliban, 60 miles from the Pakistan capital Islamabad.

Mr Brown said 25 to 30 million people were living in a "breeding ground for terrorists" between the two countries.

Future peace in Afghanistan will appear to depend on the military defeat of the Taliban and its allies in neighbouring Pakistan.

The Americans call it AF-PAK, a term Mr Brown does not like.

He insisted they are two distinct countries with two very different sets of problems.

But to solve the crisis in one, Afghanistan now depends on dealing with the problems of the other, Pakistan.

Hence the new approach to dealing with both countries simultaneously.

The Prime Minister said: "There is a crucible of terrorism in the mountainous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"Our approach to these countries is different, but must be complementary. Our strategy for dealing with this breeding ground for terrorism will mean more security on the streets of Britain."

Britain 'cannot afford to send more troops to Afghanistan' because of the recession - Telegraph

Britain cannot afford to send more troops to Afghanistan because of the mounting costs of dealing with the recession, military commanders have been told.

The Daily Telegraph has learned that the Treasury is blocking Ministry of Defence plans to match a US troop surge with thousands more British soldiers on financial grounds.
Alistair Darling announced in his Budget on Wednesday that the Government will have to borrow £700 billion over the next five years as tax revenues fall and spending on items like welfare payments soar.

In private Whitehall discussions about Afghanistan, his department has argued that the ever-worsening state of the public finances means the Government simply cannot spare more money for an increased long-term commitment to the country.

Britain currently has around 8,300 troops in Afghanistan, the second-largest force after America's, which is set to grow to more than 50,000 this year.

Gordon Brown has authorised a short-term deployment of several hundred extra troops to Afghanistan to provide extra security for the country's presidential election this summer. That temporary increase will still go ahead.

For the full article on the Telegraph website click here

Brown urged to back Afghan troop boost - FT

Senior figures in the British army are arguing that Gordon Brown must give the green light this month to a permanent increase in the number of troops serving in Afghanistan, insisting the UK must make a bigger commitment to defeat the Taliban in Helmand province.

As the US prepares to send 8,000 troops to southern Helmand from May, army chiefs believe the prime minister must give the go-ahead by mid-April for 2,000 extra British troops to be sent to the province in order to reap the maximum benefit from the US and UK operations.

At the Nato summit in Strasbourg at the weekend, Mr Brown agreed to send up to 900 UK troops to Afghanistan to help ensure security for the Afghan elections on August 20. These troops will be sent for a period of about three or four months, working alongside a number of European nations to provide election security.

But the despatch of the 900 troops has never been a controversial issue in Whitehall because they will only be in Afghanistan for a short time. Instead, debate has focused on army demands for a permanent boost of 2,000 troops – taking total UK force numbers in Afghanistan from 8,100 to 10,100 – with the Treasury retaliating that this would be too costly.

A senior defence official has told the Financial Times that a decision on whether to send the troops must be taken by Number 10 by the middle of this month. The urgency is driven by the fact that the UK would want to carry out its uplift at the same time as the US begins sending its extra forces to southern Helmand in May.

John Hutton, the defence secretary, is said to back the army’s plan for an uplift and some in Whitehall suggest Mr Brown is not completely against the move. But the defence official says the Treasury is fighting the decision, which would cost £80m ($119m) plus the cost of equipment for the 2,000 troops.

The Treasury has become alarmed by the rising costs of the Afghanistan war. A source close to the prime minister said at the weekend that there was no urgency about the decision on permanent uplift. “You don’t get the impression that lights are flashing red in Number 10 on this,” said this person. “There is no sense that anything has to be decided before Easter.”

Much of the pressure to approve the boost has come from the British army rather from the US, whose policy so far has not been to browbeat European governments into sending more troops.

British army chiefs believe the UK’s Task Force Helmand – numbering 5,000 troops – is having success in setting up development zones across the central Helmand belt, where ordinary Afghans can get on with their lives unimpeded by the Taliban.

But army chiefs believe the task force is stretched and that it would be able greatly to improve security if it got more boots on the ground in the province.

Afghanistan: it will be tougher than we think - The Times

As America's envoy prepares to confront the ‘mess', a former soldier draws some hard lessons from his experience in Northern Ireland.

President Obama's special envoy Richard Holbrooke visits Afghanistan this week believing that the new Administration has inherited a “mess... like no other problem we have confronted, and in my view it's going to be much tougher than Iraq”.

At his inauguration the President spoke of forging “a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan”. The British Army has been trying to cope with that mess for three years, and knows how hard-earned peace will be.

When Gordon Brown visited Afghanistan late last year he told the troops: “There is a line of terror that leads from the Pakistan and Afghanistan mountains to the streets of our capital city and our towns if we allow the Taleban and al-Qaeda to flourish.” Holding the line in the mountains means that the Army will be there for a long time; senior officers believe it will be for as long as troops were in Northern Ireland.

For the full article on the Times Online click here