Afghanistan: British troops well supplied, insists Brown

Published on Wednesday 15 July 2009 22:12

GORDON Brown yesterday insisted the UK government was doing everything required to support the war effort in Afghanistan.

Despite having come in for sharp criticism from the head of the army, Mr Brown defended the government's military spending at Prime Minister's Questions, and told the Commons the armed forces "have the resources and equipment they need".

Mr Brown said: "Our military commanders will always want more equipment – and rightly so – but Sir Jock Stirrup, the chief of the defence forces, has said that our armed forces are better equipped than ever before.

"I believe we are making the provision that is necessary both for helicopters and for equipment on the ground."

Army chief General Sir Richard Dannatt had called for more troops, equipment and helicopters to be provided to help the battle against the Taleban.

Sir Richard, who will shortly stand down, revealed that a shortage of helicopters – Britain has fewer than 30 in Afghanistan, despite having a nominal 507 in service – meant he had to borrow a US Black Hawk to get around the battlefield.

He added that the army needed more "boots on the ground" to secure areas and win the confidence of the Afghan population. Critics claim that British soldiers – there are about 9,100 in Afghanistan at present – lack the critical mass to dominate the ground won from highly motivated rebels.

"I don't mind whether those feet in those boots are British, American or Afghan," Sir Richard said. "But we need more to have the persistent effect to give the people confidence in us. That's the top line and bottom line."

His comments were the latest from military figures angry at the Prime Minister's refusal to send an extra 2,000 troops to Afghanistan.

British forces have suffered a spate of fatalities, with the total number of deaths standing at 184 – more than were killed in the Iraq war. On Tuesday, the bodies of eight soldiers killed in a 24-hour period last week were flown back to Britain.

Mr Brown said his priority was to force Afghan president Hamid Karzai to agree to put more troops on the ground in Helmand province, and that UK forces would look to train more Afghan security services from October.

But Conservative leader David Cameron repeated his charge that a shortage of helicopters was placing troops at grave risk from roadside bombs.

Mr Cameron demanded the Prime Minister admit there were fewer than 30 helicopters – exact numbers are not released "for security reasons" – which meant that US forces were much better resourced. The United States has 100 helicopters in Helmand but a similar number of troops to the UK.

The Tory leader asked why the Ministry of Defence's helicopter budget had been cut by 1.4 billion in 2004, despite warnings from the National Audit Office that there was a "considerable deficit" in helicopter availability.

Mr Cameron said: "There has not been a proportional increase in the number of helicopters. If we want to move more troops around the battlefield more quickly, we will need more helicopters."

Meanwhile, Mr Brown praised the people of Wootton Bassett, who continue to turn out in large numbers to greet the coffins of soldiers as they are repatriated.

He said the military effort had two purposes. "We must ensure we attack terrorism in Pakistan as well as defeat what is happening in Afghanistan," he said.

This had led to the recent increase in troop numbers, from 8,100 to 9,000, to ensure elections next month were safe for voters.

Mr Brown said that the number of helicopters had increased by 60 per cent in the past two years. In addition, Merlins and Chinooks being reconditioned from service in Iraq would start to arrive by the end of the year.

MOD ADMITS PANTHER DELAYS

FURTHER concerns emerged yesterday about the lack of resources being directed to British forces fighting on the front line in Afghanistan.

The Ministry of Defence was forced to admit that hundreds of new armoured vehicles could not be sent to battle zones because of a bungled procurement process.

Only 67 of 401 Panther vehicles, purchased at a cost of about 400,000 each, are safe enough for Afghanistan, defence minister Quentin Davies told MPs in a written parliamentary answer.

The remainder are only suitable for "pre-deployment training, individual and collective training, and trials and development", Mr Davies admitted.

The contract – one of the most expensive for vehicles in the MoD's history – has been riddled with delays and problems for years.

About 20 million had to be spent upgrading the 67 vehicles to make them suitable for Afghanistan.