Browns Plan for Afghanistan Withdrawal

[Azog 150]

As some of you may know, there is going to be a war conference in London in January to discuss the situation in Afghanistan and an eventual withdrawal time table.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009...t-gordon-brown

But the prime minister set out five benchmarks – the last of which would pave the way for a lengthy process of withdrawal to begin – that the Afghan government will be asked to meet at the conference in London on 28 January:

■ Within three months Kabul must identify additional troops to send to Helmand province for training. So far this year, 98 British soldiers have been killed in the province, the heaviest annual death toll since the conflict began eight years ago. Brown said: "This is part of our idea that we will build up the Afghan army by nearly 50,000 [from 90,000] over the course of the next year."

■ Within six months there must be clear plans for police training.

■ Within nine months President Hamid Karzai must have appointed almost 400 provincial and district governors.

■ Within 12 months 5,000 additional Afghan troops will be trained by Britain in Helmand and thousands more in other parts of the country.

■ By the end of 2010 Afghan security forces must be taking the lead in five out of the country's 34 provinces. Control in one or two districts in Helmand will also be handed over.

Brown stressed that the conference, which is expected to be attended by Karzai, the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, and foreign ministers of the other 42 countries involved in Afghanistan, would not set a timetable for withdrawal. But he indicated that the process of "Afghanisation", whereby local troops and police assume control, would allow international troops to begin to leave.

Seems a realistic enough plan to me and hopefully one that NATO can agree on.





Also, Britain is going to bolster its Afghan continegent to 10,000 (Including 500 Special forces and some long awaited Merlin Helicopters). 8 other NATO nations are reported to have pleged 5,000 troops and obviously Obama is going to be sending those 35,000. Looks like we are finally stepping things up a notch in Afghanistan

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8385539.stm

Gordon Brown has confirmed he will send 500 more troops to Afghanistan, taking the total UK deployment to over 10,000.

He told MPs all conditions had now been met to send the extra personnel and that eight other countries had also offered additional troops.

The UK force level will reach 9,500 but special forces takes this to 10,000.
Mr Brown and Barack Obama are due to hold a video conference later, a day before the US president's likely announcement of 35,000 extra US troops.

'Political surge'

Meanwhile a soldier from 1st Battalion, Coldstream Guards has died after being injured in an explosion in Helmand province - the 236th British fatality in Afghanistan since operations began in 2001, and the 99th this year.