Gordon Brown for 5,000 additional foreign troops in war-torn Afghanistan
LONDON: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said today he was confident of persuading Afghanistan war allies to contribute to an extra 5,000 troops on top of a likely US surge.
Brown, under fire at home as the British death toll mounts, told BBC radio he was sending envoys to fellow European countries in a bid to convince them to share the burden.
The premier said he was confident that US President Barack Obama would largely accept the call from General Stanley McChrystal, who commands international forces in Afghanistan, for tens of thousands more US troops.
But in addition, “we need our other NATO allies to help,” Brown said.
“We can probably get another 5,000 forces into Afghanistan from that NATO and outside NATO group, and we’ll be part of that. “I have taken the responsibility of asking others in Europe — and outside Europe actually — if they will back this strategy, which is partnering the Afghan forces, mentoring the Afghan forces,” he added.
“I believe I can persuade countries who said only a few weeks ago they would send no more troops to Afghanistan, that if we are training the Afghan forces and partnering, and if there is a way forward that allows troops to come home over time, it’s right for them to contribute troops as well, and so burden-sharing will happen.” He went on: “I am pretty sure that what President Obama wants to do is very much in line with the counter-insurgency proposals of General McChrystal.” Britain has around 9,000 troops in Afghanistan, largely in the troubled southern Helmand Province where they are battling Taliban insurgents. Brown has made a conditional pledge of a further 500 troops.
Brown has endured sharp personal criticism in recent weeks over the mounting British death toll in Afghanistan, which stands at 232. Britain has lost 95 soldiers in Afghanistan this year, the highest casualty levels since the 1982 Falklands War.
“We are prepared to put more troops into Afghanistan but there’s got to be burden-sharing amongst the alliance,” he said.