*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media
(NSI News Source Info) LONDON, U.K. - July 17, 2009: Afghanistan needs to do far more to make its troops available on the ground if a U.S.-British offensive to secure territory ahead of elections is to succeed, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Thursday.
In this Wednesday July 15, 2009 photo British soldiers with the International Security Assistance Force pose for a photo with Afghan officials in the Sangin district of Helmand province, south of Kabul, Afghanistan. Britain's army chief said Wednesday that more troops are needed in Afghanistan's volatile southern province of Helmand as soldiers pursue a bloody campaign to uproot Taliban fighters ahead of elections next month.
Answering questions before a parliamentary committee, Brown repeatedly made the point that he did not think Afghanistan was pulling its weight and said he had spoken to President Hamid Karzai to try to address the situation. Karzai told Brown this week he would increase the number, but did not say when or by how many.
"I'm very clear that the Afghan army has got to do more," Brown said, arguing that any strategy to clear and hold large swathes of territory in the south ahead of a presidential election in August would hinge on Afghan forces.
"I'm very clear that where we are in Helmand, we need the complement of more Afghan troops and police. And I'm also clear that we have a role to play, and it will be a continuing role after the election, for some of our troops to mentor and train the Afghan security forces."
He said Britain, which has about 9,000 troops in Helmand, having boosted the number for a pre-election offensive, would review its numbers after the poll, and possibly in October, if the vote goes to a second round.But more immediately, he said there was not enough support from Afghanistan's side to back up the efforts being made by Britain and the United States. If Afghan communities were to be kept safe, it meant Afghanistan stepping up to the plate.
It is a point U.S. military commanders have also made in recent weeks, but which Brown has taken up on a political level at a time when he is under pressure at home to justify why Britain is still fighting in Afghanistan after eight years.
"We have been asking the Afghan national army through President Karzai to make available more Afghan troops on the ground," he said.
"It would be by far the best way of moving forward if once ground is taken by our troops, then local Afghan troops and police are there on the ground ... There are troops available and I believe they should be in Helmand for this campaign."
The prime minister was also dismissive of the size of the Afghan forces, saying they would have to be substantially expanded if they were ever going to be capable of keeping control in a country the size of Afghanistan.
"Our ability to defeat a terrorist threat depends not only on what we can contribute militarily, but on what we can achieve by civilian as well as military effort in training the Afghan army," he said.
"Which will have to be higher than 130,000 (soldiers), by the way. I mean, it's 80,000 at the moment, and the plan is 130,000, but I think everybody is in no doubt that for a territory that is as big as Afghanistan, we will have to train any army to a higher number than that."
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