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UK tries to form coalition to fight in Afghanistan
(The Guardian)
Updated: 2005-11-15 17:03
Britain is attempting to build a coalition to pursue counter-insurgency
combat operations against al-Qaida and Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan
after the withdrawal by the Bush administration of 4,000 US troops early next
year, reported The Guardian.
Talks with Australia, Canada, New Zealand and several other countries are
being held before a Nato meeting in Brussels on December 7. They follow the
refusal of European allies, such as France and Germany, to allow their troops to
become involved in counter-insurgency.
The discussions are among preparations for the deployment of 2,000 crack
British troops backed by Apache attack helicopters to lawless Helmand province
at the head of an expanded, British-led Nato force next spring. An additional
2,000 British troops are expected to be sent to Afghanistan next year bringing
the total number to somewhere around 4,800. The British mission in the south
represents a significant escalation of its overall involvement in Afghanistan.
Military sources said it was potentially more hazardous - and could last longer
- than Britain's postwar involvement in Iraq.
"The debate is not whether, but to what extent these troops will get into
counter-insurgency and counter-narcotics," a military source said. "We are not
talking war fighting. But there is potential for armed conflict in some areas.
The reality is that there are warlords, drug traffickers, al-Qaida, al-Qaida
wannabes and Taliban."
An officer said: "It could take longer to crack than Iraq. It could take 10
years."
Violence in Afghanistan is at its highest since the 2001 US-led invasion.
Suicide bombers killed a German peacekeeper in Kabul yesterday. A British
soldier died recently in a gun battle in Mazar-i-Sharif.
The source said talks were under way with other countries about contributions
to Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) operations in Helmand.
"Are they prepared to completely go war-fighting or do they want to do other
things?
"The bits of the equation that have to be resolved are the overall size of
the force package, where they will be and, depending on the Nato mood music and
the realities on the ground, what their mandate will be."
Australia confirmed yesterday it was in talks about sending troops to
southern Afghanistan. Fifty New Zealand SAS soldiers are understood to be
serving in the south, at present under US command, after their tour of duty was
extended. Canada has 1,500 troops in Afghanistan and offers to join the
British-led force in the south have been received from the Netherlands, Denmark
and Estonia.
Despite US pressure, France, Germany, Spain and Italy have refused to expand
the mandate for their peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan to include "war on
terror" combat operations. But their reluctance and the increased pressure on
British forces is causing concern among MPs.
Sir Menzies Campbell, Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, said: "Nato
runs the risk of embarrassment if it cannot find sufficient troops of good
quality for the mission. The government has claimed that everything will be all
right on the night ... this seems optimistic."
The Ministry of Defence said yesterday the aim of the mission "would be to
help restore Afghanistan as a secure state and prevent it again becoming a haven
for terrorists". In a Commons statement, Adam Ingram, the armed forces minister,
said "no final decisions ... had yet been made. But it was "sensible to begin
British preparations for potential deployment".
Britain is also planning to send up to 2,000 additional troops to Kabul to
bolster the Isaf peacekeeping operation, of which it will take command next
spring. The deployments will raise British troops in Afghanistan to more than
4,000 compared with 8,500 in south-east Iraq.
The US will remove most of its troops in the south early next year and reduce
troop levels in line with reductions in Iraq. The British troop build-up is
expected to start in the new year.
Violence across Afghanistan has escalated in recent months despite US claims
that democracy is taking root. Up to 1,500 people have been killed this
year.
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