Afghan mission 'may last 40 years'

General Sir David Richards, who will become Chief of the General Staff later this month, told The Times: "I believe that the UK will be committed to Afghanistan in some manner - development, governance, security sector reform - for the next 30 to 40 years."

He said troop involvement should be needed only in the medium term and the role of the Army would evolve, adding that the focus now should be on the expansion of the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police.

"Just as in Iraq, it is our route out militarily, but the Afghan people and our opponents need to know that this does not mean our abandoning the region," he said.

"We made this mistake once. Our opponents are banking on us doing it again, and we must prove them wrong."

His comments came after the death of three British Paratroopers working with special forces in Afghanistan.

The UK soldiers died when their Jackal armoured vehicle was hit by an explosion north of Lashkar Gah in Helmand Province, taking the number of British troops who have died in Afghanistan since operations began in October 2001 to 195. A record 22 were killed last month.

It is understood the soldiers belonged to the recently-formed Special Forces Support Group (SFSG).

They were carrying out a routine security patrol with Afghan security forces when their vehicle was struck by an explosion before coming under small arms fire, the Ministry of Defence said.

It is thought that the three soldiers, from the Parachute Regiment, were killed in the initial blast. A fourth member of the patrol was injured and remains in a critical condition. Their families have been informed.