THE GROWING THREAT OF THE TALIBAN

Britain to boost Afghanistan force, US Defence Secretary says British troop numbers in Afghanistan may have to increase to deal with the growing threat of the Taliban, the American defence secretary Robert Gates has said.

By Thomas Harding

Robert Gates has admitted that southern Afghanistan had become 'an increasing challenge' The 8,000 British troops currently in Helmand could be substantially boosted next year, possibly by an extra brigade of up to 4,000 soldiers.

Military commanders are already in advanced planning to substantially reduce the 4,000 strong force in Iraq to just a few hundred early next year. It is thought that this will free up troops from the overstretched military to be used in Afghanistan. The Ministry of Defence has refused to confirm that numbers will increase only saying that the force levels were "under constant review".

But during an interview with journalists Mr Gates told The Daily Telegraph that "my understanding is that the UK may increase the size of its force there (Afghanistan)". Asked to clarify what the size of the reinforcements might be Mr Gates, who immediately after the meeting had lunch with the Defence Secretary Des Browne, said: "Maybe I will find out today." With large parts of southern Afghanistan still under the sway of insurgents, commanders have been discussing a "surge" of the area by swamping it with extra troops.

The Americans have already committed a brigade of US Marines to Helmand and another four Brigade Combat Teams are expected to deploy to Afghanistan next year. Helmand is also responsible for about two-thirds of the heroin exported from Afghanistan with 10 per cent of the profits going into Taliban coffers. Mr Gates admitted that southern Afghanistan had become "an increasing challenge" and had seen most of the fighting since 2006 when the British first entered Helmand.

The Nato-led force in Afghanistan has 53,000 troops, and the United States has pressed allies to provide more forces and military capabilities to stem an increasingly violent insurgency. "We see some lessons to be learned from Iraq in terms of the need to establish security as a precondition to economic development and better governance. That means more forces," Mr Gates said. "But I think we are in complete accord with our European allies that the military side of this is only one piece of the solution."

Mr Gates admitted that Washington was "looking at" a possible change of strategy in Afghanistan. On the orders of President George W Bush an extra Army brigade of 3,700 soldiers will join the 33,000 US troops in Afghanistan. An American commander in Afghanistan has already asked for an additional 10,000 troops to surge the country.

The Afghan National Army is also expected to double from 65,000 to 122,000 at the cost of £12 billion. The Ministry of Defence said there were no immediate plans to increase troop numbers in Afghanistan beyond the extra 230 being sent on the current six month deployment boosting numbers to 8,000. "There is no further intention to increase levels beyond this," a source said but added levels were "kept under continual review".

Mr Gates was in London as part of a Nato meeting called by Des Browne to discuss transformation of the organisation into more of an expeditionary force. The issue of Georgia and Ukraine's membership of the alliance will also be discussed. # In a later television interview Mr Gates said that if Russia attacked Georgia once it had been allowed to join Nato then the aggression would be met with an armed response from America.

The MoD said in a statement it had been assured that Mr Gates was not attempting to “pre-empt a UK announcement” or to “box in” Britain into increasing troop numbers.

Fuente: The Telegraph/Prensa Popular Comunistas Miranda
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