BRITISH PRIME minister Gordon Brown has decided to send 500 extra infantry troops to Afghanistan to hold ground taken from the Taliban, despite declining public support for Britain’s involvement in the conflict.
Another group of 500 British soldiers, serving in Kandahar with international forces, are to move from Kandahar to Helmand, where the British have suffered serious losses in recent months.
In the House of Commons yesterday, the prime minister was heard in silence as he read out the names of the 37 British service personnel killed, mostly in Helmand, since July. So far, 221 have died since 2001.
However, Mr Brown made clear that the reinforcements were dependent upon the troops having enough equipment and training, including two Merlin helicopters due to be sent to Helmand shortly; but other countries must “bear their fair share”, he warned.
More than 40 nations have troops serving in Afghanistan, but some of them have to obey “no fighting” rules laid down by their governments, and most of them have been unwilling to increase the numbers they deploy.
Meanwhile, Britain’s most senior soldier, air chief marshal Jock Stirrup has denied claims – fuelled by criticisms levelled by Gen Richard Dannatt – that Mr Brown had refused the military’s demands for 2,000 troops.
However, it does appear that they had sought an extra 1,000. Defence secretary Bob Ainsworth is understood to have played a significant role in the agreement between No 10 and military chiefs.
But former defence secretary John Hutton, who quit the cabinet in June, said it would “have been much more helpful” if the prime minister had listened to calls by senior officers for more resources.
Supporting the proposed increase, Mr Hutton said: “I think it would have been much more helpful had we had the additional troops there six months ago.”
The Obama administration in Washington is understood to be seriously spilt over demands by its commander in Afghanistan, Gen Stanley McChrystal, for 40,000 more troops, though it is increasingly likely that Mr Obama will agree to a substantial increase.
Opposition to the war is rising in Britain. A poll in yesterday's London Timesshowed that one-third believed that British forces should leave Afghanistan, and more than half no longer support the operation.
Welcoming the decision, the chief of the defence staff said the 500 reinforcement “accords with the needs of our operational commanders, as set out to me and agreed by the chiefs of staff, and with the military advice given to Downing Street”.