AFGHANISTAN: British Prime Minister David Cameron eyes 2011 Afghan pullback/U.S. reviews war

Record ID: 189843

  • Title: AFGHANISTAN: British Prime Minister David Cameron eyes 2011 Afghan pullback/U.S. reviews war
  • Date: 8th December 2010
  • Summary: KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (DECEMBER 7, 2010) (REUTERS) AFGHAN PRESIDENT HAMID KARZAI AND BRITISH PRIME MINISTER DAVID CAMERON WALKING SIDE BY SIDE BRITISH AND AFGHAN FLAGS VARIOUS OF KARZAI AND CAMERON MEETING JOURNALIST SEATED KARZAI AND CAMERON ARRIVING AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRITISH PRIME MINISTER, DAVID CAMERON, SAYING: "What I've seen on this visit gives me confidence that our plans for transitions are achievable. As we agreed at the NATO summit, which was an excellent summit, we'll begin the handover of lead security responsibility to your Afghan national security forces early next year and we will complete that process by the end of 2014." CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRITISH PRIME MINISTER, DAVID CAMERON, SAYING: "Britain will remain a close and reliable partner and reliable friend for many years to come. So I am pleased to announce that we will work together on a new long-term partnership between Britain and Afghanistan, which will set out in black and white the ways in which we will support you, politically, economically and militarily, as we discussed in our meeting, once combat troops have gone home." JOURNALIST (SOUNDBITE) (English) AFGHANISTAN PRESIDENT, HAMID KARZAI, SAYING: "Britain has been a steadfast supporter of Afghanistan and of the Afghan people. Britain has contributed in the sacrifice of its soldiers, of blood and of resources in Afghanistan for which the Afghan people are extremely grateful. You've been operating as a British army and trainers and civilians in a very difficult part of the country, we fully understand and appreciate the hard work that your doing." CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS END OF NEWS CONFERENCE
  • Embargoed: 23rd December 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Afghanistan, Afghanistan
  • Country: Afghanistan
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVACL43JNTXZPUVP8X2JQLX1AJH0
  • Story Text: British Prime Minister David Cameron, on an unannounced visit to Afghanistan, said on Tuesday (December 7) he was confident troops from his country could start leaving early next year, when transition to Afghan forces begins.
    Britain has the second-largest foreign troop contingent in Afghanistan after the United States, and Cameron, who was on his sixth visit to Afghanistan, has said he wants British troops out of combat roles by 2015.
    While he has said before he wants that process to begin next year, British commanders have since tried to play down the prospect of any major withdrawals in early 2011, saying it would depend on the readiness of Afghan forces to take over and other conditions on the ground.
    "What I've seen on this visit gives me confidence that our plans for transitions are achievable. As we agreed at that the NATO summit, which was an excellent summit, we'll begin the handover of lead security responsibility to your Afghan national security forces early next year and we will complete that process by the end of 2014," said David Cameron, alongside Afghan President Hamid Karzai at a news conference in Kabul.
    At a conference in Lisbon last month, NATO leaders agreed to meet Karzai's time-line for foreign troops to end combat operations in Afghanistan by the end of 2014. Some U.S. and NATO leaders have warned that may spill into 2015.
    The NATO summit agreement has thrown the spotlight onto the readiness of Afghanistan's roughly 260,000 police and soldiers to take over from foreign forces.
    Some foreign commanders acknowledge there are problems with the training, equipment and retention rates among Afghan forces and that a target of 306,000 for Afghan forces by October 2011 will be hard to meet.
    But Cameron promised to continue to give support.
    "Britain will remain a close and reliable partner and reliable friend for many years to come. So I am pleased to announce that we will work together on a new long-term partnership between Britain and Afghanistan, which will set out in black and white the ways in which we will support you, politically, economically and militarily, as we discussed in our meeting, once combat troops have gone home," Cameron added.
    Karzai thanked the British army for their work in Afghanistan.
    "Britain has been a steadfast supporter of Afghanistan and of the Afghan people. Britain has contributed in the sacrifice of its soldiers, of blood and of resources in Afghanistan for which the Afghan people are extremely grateful. You've been operating as a British army and trainers and civilians in a very difficult part of the country, we fully understand and appreciate the hard work that your doing," he said.
    Military and civilian casualties, however, are at their worst levels since the Taliban were ousted in late 2001, despite the presence of a record number of foreign troops.
    Commanders have talked up recent success and say they have broken the Taliban's momentum, but the increasingly unpopular war is widely seen as going badly for Washington and its allies and European NATO leaders, like Cameron, are under pressure to withdraw troops.
    Britain has about 9,500 troops in Afghanistan, the bulk of which are in Helmand, a Taliban stronghold in the south, where they were spread thinly until Obama authorised extra U.S. troops, 20,000 of which are in southern provinces.
    British troops have since been able to concentrate on smaller, strategic areas of Helmand.
    At least 346 British troops have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001, almost a third of them this year.
    Cameron, who arrived on Monday, shrugged off recent criticism of the troops' performance, saying they had been spread too thinly before the extra U.S. troops arrived.
    The apparent criticism, which said British troops "were not up to the task" of securing Helmand, came from Afghan and US. embassy comments obtained by the WikiLeaks website and published over the past week by several media outlets.
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