Britain ‘rushing’ Afghan handover

THE government has been accused of rushing into an announcement on the future of Britain’s military involvement in Afghanistan, after Downing Street officials said troops would step back from their lead combat role by the end of next year.

The announcement, under plans drawn up by the Nato-led Isaf international alliance, followed comments by both the United States and France, suggesting that the Isaf coalition would make a transition out of combat next year.

Downing Street denied that the move amounted to an acceleration in the handover of control over Afghanistan to local forces, insisting it was in line with a strategy agreed at the Nato summit in Lisbon in 2010.

But opposition politicians said the announcement should have been made in parliament and claimed the campaign strategy had been “rewritten in just a few hours”.

It is envisaged that Afghan forces will take over lead security responsibility in all parts of the country by the end of next year, Prime Minister David Cameron’s official spokesman said.

Isaf troops – including UK personnel – will retain a “supporting” combat role during 2014, but Afghan forces will be in the lead throughout the country.

Mr Cameron has previously said that the UK’s military role in Afghanistan will be completed by the end of 2014, but added that he wanted to avoid a “cliff-edge” withdrawal of the entire force at that point.

He has also said that the UK will be able to reduce its force levels by 500 to 9,000 this year.

The latest announcement provides further detail on the way in which the transition to home-grown authorities will take place.

US defence secretary Leon Panetta this week said: “Hopefully by the mid to later part of 2013, we’ll be able to make a transition from a combat role to a training, advise and assist role.”

He added that this “doesn’t mean we’re not going to be combat-ready”, but the US and other international forces would no longer be in “the formal combat role we’re in now”.

Following talks with Afghan president Hamid Karzai last Friday, French president Nicolas Sarkozy said that France and Afghanistan had agreed to ask Nato to bring forward the handover of all combat operations to local forces to 2013.

The French president also announced an accelerated exit for France, the fourth-largest contributor of troops in Afghanistan.

Shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander said: “There are serious questions to answer over the manner of this announcement and the fact it was not made to parliament.

“It is a matter of continuing concern that the Prime Minister has not made a substantial statement on Afghanistan in the House since July last year.

“Despite the sacrifices our forces have made over the last ten years, Afghanistan now risks becoming Britain’s invisible conflict.

“We now have an end-date, but the government must focus its efforts in the months ahead on securing the necessary end-state.”

Shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy said: “A strategy which has taken a decade to develop seems to have been rewritten in just a few hours overnight.

“The announcement in Washington appears to have caught David Cameron by surprise, but that is no reason to keep the public in the dark about what has changed in Afghanistan to bring forward the date of withdrawal.”