Ainsworth blames US delay for fall in Afghan war support

Published on Tuesday 24 November 2009 21:50

AMERICA'S delay in deciding whether to send more troops to Afghanistan has contributed to falling public support in the UK for the mission, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth said yesterday.

He said the "hiatus" caused by President Barack Obama's consideration of the call for reinforcements and the rising death toll had made it harder to make the case for the action.

The delay has held up attempts to secure commitments from other allies, amid concerted efforts by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to rally public support for the UK presence.

Giving evidence to the Commons defence committee, Mr Ainsworth said the 98 British deaths this year were a key factor, but US delay had not helped.

"The prism through which this is all seen, in the United Kingdom, is the deaths in theatre and that tends to wipe out in the public mind and does damage to people's perceptions of the success that we are having in Afghanistan," he said.

"We have suffered a lot of losses; we have had a period of hiatus while (General] McChrystal's plan and his requested uplift has been looked at over a period of some months, and we have had the Afghan elections – which have been far from perfect, let us say – and all of those things have mitigated against our ability to show progress. And to put that on the other side of the scales when we are suffering the kind of losses we are."

Asked which countries might offer extra troops, he said: "I think the allies between them can get to in excess of 5,000 as an additional contribution."

The Prime Minister's spokesman denied Mr Ainsworth was suggesting the US delay had made it more difficult to make the case for the campaign in the UK.

"I don't think the Secretary of State was actually saying that," he said. "It is a fluid situation and always has been."