Cameron visits Kabul, rules out more troops
New British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Thursday that 2010 is “the vital year” for Nato to show progress in Afghanistan, and he doesn’t want British forces to stay in the country a moment longer than necessary.
On his first visit to Afghanistan since coming to power in May, Mr Cameron also flatly ruled out boosting his country’s contribution to Nato forces fighting the Taliban, saying, “The issue of more troops is not remotely on the UK agenda.” Mr Cameron’s coalition government is considered less invested in the Afghan war than its Labour predecessor, and he wants to be able to offer an exit plan to a public increasingly impatient with the conflict after nearly nine years.
“Nobody wants British troops to be in Afghanistan a moment longer than is necessary,” Mr Cameron said after talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in the capital, Kabul.
After meetings this week in London with US secretary of defence Robert Gates, Mr Cameron’s government publicly assured the United States it remains committed to its central role in the war in Afghanistan despite suffering heavy losses.
British troops are the second-largest group in the Nato coalition in Afghanistan, with some 10,000 forces — most of them in the volatile south of the country where the Taliban holds sway.
The United States has about 94,000 troops, with more on the way.
Coalition forces have increasingly come under attack from the improvised bombs — the Taliban’s weapon of choice against foot and vehicle patrols.
At a joint news conference with Mr Karzai, he said the conflict in Afghanistan was his No. 1 foreign policy priority. —AP
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Cameron promises ÂŁ67m to counter IEDs
AGE CORRESPONDENT
London
June 10: British Prime Minister David Cameron in a joint press conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, in Kabul also announced an additional grant of ÂŁ67 million to help British troops counter improvised-explosive devices planted by the rebel Taliban forces.
“My biggest duty as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is to our armed forces and to make sure that they have all the equipment and all of the protection that they need to do the absolutely vital job,” he said.
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