Cameron in warning on troop return

Published on Saturday 5 December 2009 18:53

BRITISH troop withdrawals from Afghanistan are unlikely to begin next year, David Cameron warned yesterday on a visit to the country.

The Conservative Party leader suggested that government plans to hand responsibility for some Helmand districts to Afghan forces in 2010 had raised "false hopes" about the drawdown of UK troops.

He also said British troops were spread "too thinly" in Helmand and needed to be concentrated better.

Gordon Brown last week announced that a further 500 UK troops would be deployed in the conflict with the Taleban, taking Britain's presence to more than 10,000 personnel. But the Prime Minister also wants international talks in London next month to set a "clear timetable" for the hand-over of power in Afghanistan.

He expects certain districts in Helmand to be handed over to Afghan commanders next year in what has been seen as an indication that British troops could be brought home.

But Cameron said: "I don't want us to raise false hopes. It's pretty unlikely you are going to see a reduction in British troop numbers next year.

"As soon as you can hand over lead responsibility to the Afghans in a district you should do, once it's safe. And once you're doing that, you can bring down troop numbers in the future, but do it based on success, don't keep talking about artificial timelines."

Cameron said US president Barack Obama's announcement last week of a 30,000-strong US troop surge presented a "big opportunity" for success. "The door is open, and we need to do everything we can as quickly as we can to make progress and show we can have a successful outcome," he said.

But he said there was an issue for British troops who were having to cover much more of the population per soldier than the Americans. "We are spread too thinly," he said. "I want to see British forces more concentrated in areas where we can make a difference.

"That's a decision we need to make relatively rapidly so we can… actually do proper counter-insurgency, make a real difference and be a part of what I hope will be success."

Cameron said an immediate withdrawal would be a "bad option", but added: "We can't be here for another eight years."

He described the new Obama strategy as the "last, best chance for success". Obama has set July 2011 as the target date for the start of US withdrawals from Afghanistan after the forthcoming surge.

The Tory leader travelled to Helmand, where he spoke to locals and addressed British troops at their Lashkar Gah base. He also met military leaders and Afghan president Hamid Karzai in Kabul, as well as watching Afghan forces train.

Cameron has used the trip to promise to double bonuses paid to troops returning from Afghanistan. He said payment for a six-month tour of duty would increase to 4,800 if the Conservatives won the general election expected next spring.