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Brown forced to defend strategy and send in 140 troops
Joe Murphy and Robert Fox13.07.09
Gordon Brown was forced to defend his strategy on Afghanistan this afternoon as doubts grew in the wake of mounting losses.
Facing a sombre House of Commons, the Prime Minister said: “I am confident that we are right to be in Afghanistan, that we have the strongest possible plan and that we have the resources to do the job.”
Amid angry charges from the Opposition that soldiers were not getting the helicopters or manpower they need, Mr Brown said an extra 140 soldiers will fly into the conflict zone to boost the fight against the Taliban. He announced a special Commons debate on Thursday.
Mr Brown acknowledged that the losses were severe but insisted the war was vital. “It has been a very difficult summer and it's not over yet,” he said. “But if we are to deny Helmand to the Taliban, if we are to defeat this vicious insurgency and in doing so make Britain and the world a safer place, we must persist with our operations.”
He told MPs: “I have been reassured by commanders on the ground and at the top of our Armed Forces that we have the manpower we need for current operations.”
In the past two years the number of helicopters had risen by 60 per cent with the number of flying hours raised by 84 per cent. He said troops were better equipped than ever and their overall numbers would be reviewed after the Afghan elections
But Tory leader David Cameron said the increase in helicopters had failed to keep pace with the swelling size of the Army force in southern Afghanistan. He said: “The number of troops has doubled since 2006 so proportionately there hasn't been an increase in capacity at all.”
The Premier said the war was vital because three-quarters of terrorist plots against the UK had originated in the mountainous region between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
But fears that the Government had pursued an over-ambitious strategy in Afghanistan from the start were being voiced by senior statesmen.
Writing in today's Evening Standard, former Foreign Secretary Lord Owen urged the Prime Minister to appoint a new minister to mastermind the war strategy and to replace the head of the Armed Forces.
“It is becoming ever clearer that we need a fundamental rethink of our position in Afghanistan,” he said.
Lord Owen said the Prime Minister should recall heavyweight Lord Robertson to oversee not only defence but foreign and aid policy to the region.
“It would do a lot to restore confidence if he could persuade a greatly respected former defence secretary and Nato secretary-general, George Robertson, to come back into government with the authority to oversee government policy on foreign, defence and overseas aid in Afghanistan and Pakistan,” he said.
Lord Ashdown, the former Liberal Democrat leader and ex-commando, said the UK had set “ludicrously over-ambitious targets” to create a democracy and “set ourselves up for failure”.
“I think this is now absolutely on the cusp,” he warned. “The dynamic has been moving against us.”
With the chorus of misgivings getting louder, the Defence Secretary made no attempt to play down the dangers facing troops.
“We have now lost 184 lives in this conflict and each and every one of them is a terrible loss,” said Mr Ainsworth. “This last week has been a hard week for those serving in theatre but their resolve is incredible. In the face of these tough times they are determined to get on with their mission and in the teeth of heavy resistance they are making progress.”
He said no amount of helicopters could have prevented the rising casualty rate because soldiers needed to fight on the ground, adding: “The changes in the way in which the operations are being conducted leads to more ground operations and these cannot be conducted from helicopters.”
But Conservative spokesman Liam Fox said the Government had made a grave mistake by cutting the helicopter budget in 2004 by £1.4 billion.
Former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell accused the Government of lacking a “comprehensive strategy” to defeat the Taliban.
Reader views (17)
WE need state of the art amoured vehicle where the user is at least 50 feet of the ground like those giant worlds largest dumper trucks. THey could make them through research and money. BUt this whole war has been engineered to lose on purphouse by the mod. If they cut the equipment they guarante chaos will increase and a no win situation. None of the armoured vehicle will be effective unless the occupant are 50 feet of the ground
- Mike, uk
Anbody can see he is just replacing the lives that have been lost by sending couple of hundren extra troops. The people in charge of this mind game are really sick. THe whole war was a lie. THey might as well be jumping round on pogo sticks out there.
- Mike, uk
I have one thing to say and its about the morality expressed in some of these comments
I find the way some here try to stifle any debate by associating dissent with disrespect towards those who have died is quite Orwellian and more than a little worrying.
What is really at stake here is the covenant between the British armed forces and the British government.
Soldiers serve and soldiers are prepared to die but they are not willing to be sacrificed on the altar of political expediancy. When that becomes the perceived arrangement then as far as the armed forces are concerned all bets are off. People need to read up on the history of the new model army and the aftermath of the English civil war to understand the grumbling in the ranks.
That's my only point really. Oh that and the fact that some of the comments here are so jingoistic it beggars belief. For a moment I thought I was reading a commentary from 1914. My mistake of course, we're obviously at the edge of a new age of neo-Thatcherism.
What's the saying? "Those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it"
- Londoner, London, England
Why does he not do the decent think and send some of his cabinet.
They might see what a hiding to nothing our poor young service paeople are asked to do !!!
- Bernard Parke, GUILDFORD
ex soldier<<< here! "thats a 30 year job, out there right!" GET THE LADS OUT NOW!!! THEY AINT GOT THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE JOB?
and we are "there" to keep "face" with the "Yanks!" END OF!
- Ken, London
'But if we are to deny Helmand to the Taliban, if we are to defeat this vicious insurgency and in doing so make Britain and the world a safer place, we must persist with our operations'
Who's WE, White man? Is there a single Labour MP with children in the services? What do Keith Price's children do for a living? There was a time when, like them or not, the governing class was the leadership class, and knew that when the whistle blew they had to be first out of the trench: these people have no shame.
- Mdj E10, london uk
I could weep.
After the lies that the government told over Iraq, who can believe what it is saying now.
No one should doubt that our chaps are doing the best that they can; but only the massive USA force supported by the UK and Canada are fighting.
Where is the rest of Europe ?
140 extra men shows just how much we are over-stretched both in money and man-power.
I'm not as sure as Keith that we have a strategy - only to pretend that there are "allies" supporting the USA.
Val from Spain lives in her dream-world if she thinks that this war is UN lead -its the USA stupid. German soldiers are almost forbidden to fight by law, and France ? Val, remember the past but it's today that governments are dealing with.
No-one has succeeded in holding Afghanistan , neither Britain in the nineteenth century, nor the Soviet Union which deployed much larger forces.
Brown has given sacks fertilizer - a major ingredient of Taliban bombs - to the locals.
Millions wasted to build a womens' fairground , for "gender equality" which no-body uses.
Do they all have running water and sewage systems?
I doubt that Cameron has any different ideas either.
- Sally70, Bedford
I don't understand Col.Nick Richardsons comment, "There is no shortage of helicopters".
If this is true then why aren't they being used to deploy our troops and equipment to the front line?
I am led to believe that our troops have to travel up-country by road, mainly because of the shortage of helicopters, and this is where we have suffered so many casualties because of IED's (roadside bombs)
We are hearing so many conflicting stories about equipment or hitherto, lack of it.
The Chinook is a marvellous workhorse that can take men and equipment including vehicles and artillery, up country in next to no time at all.
If we have that equipment readily available as the Colonel says we have, then common sense dictates that it should be used sooner rather than later.
- James, B'kara. Malta
140 helicopters would be more useful. That would then bring our numbers up with the Americans whose body count appears to be considerably less. Also, how about swapping places with the cowardly French and Germans?
- Roger, Winchester, England
The Soldier required for this push are front line Infantry Soldier, not lots of Storemen or clerks. It will need a lot more that 140, there needs to be at lest another 2,000 to 3,000 put into theatre to bring the numbers up to around 12 to 14 thosuand UK troops if things are to be succesfull.
As an Ex-Regular Soldier, it is 'Boots on the Ground', numbers that will make the difference in the long run. Not political 'gestures' by our Proto-Marxist Labour Government.
- Uncle Numpty, East Anglia Area UK
"Ultimately save lives"... and how will this be done and by saving lives do you mean that you subtract the number of those civilians, so-called insurgents and foreign troops already killed from the remaining population?
I'm not sure what the last sentence means, Keith, but I think I agree with you. Politicians lie, people die.
- Pat, London
Brown is doing the war on the cheap anyone seen Jeramy Clarkson Sunday night he should armoured vehicles that Britain is making which are being sold to the US we should be making these for our troops they are bombproof and blast proff they have cameras inside the troops do not even have to get out we make them for US special forces we should be expanding production of these vehicles with government money after all it has bailed out foreign car makers if they helped this company to enlarge and made these vehicles for our soldiers and sent more helecopters it would help we all know why they are there and we know what could happen if they are not. Brown should also be tackling extremism on the streets of Britain instead of pussyfooting around them as it is doing for votes. He has pledged 1 billion for Africa what about our boys. if he shut down a few quangos it would help
- Jacqui Williams, peterborough cambs
140 extra soldiers? That´s a long way short of the number Sir Richard Dannat asked for. Gordon Brown does not seem to realise that we cannot win this war against the Taliban on the cheap, manpower or equipment. Never mind what David Miliband says, the men on the ground tell a different story.
- Graham Rodhouse, Helmond, Netherlands
"Bills pile up sky high,send that boy off to die"
- Jimfred, London UK
Why not make Dannatt CDS
- Chris Sutton, Norwich
One wonders if these unnecessary comments from David Cameron are a means of deflecting the spotlight from his own problems with Andy Coulsen. His views have been negated by Lt Col Richardson, who has been actively fighting on the ground in Helmund. It ill-behoves the Conservatives to talk about dereliction of duty when they cut the Defence Budget year on year from 1985 to 1997 in real terms. They couldn't even afford to replace the ships lost in the Falklands war. It was only when Labour returned to power in 1997 that increases were made in defence spending, and they have increased the budget each year since. Let's support our troops in the job they are doing instead of trying to make political points because an election is in the offing. There are troops from Australia, Canada, Germany, France, Norway, Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden and many other countries, fighting in this UN led coalition. Let's admire their bravery and dedication and remember, they are not conscripts as my husband was when he was sent to fight in Malaya aged 18, they are volunteers as my son was when he went with the task force to the Falklands, aged 17 years and 9 months, and later to the first Gulf War. 18 year old service men and women are nothing new, it was ever so, but it is a huge tragedy when they die so young.
- Val Daniels, Mijas Costa, Spain
There is no turmoil whatsoever. We and our close allies the Americans have a war strategy that will be successfuk in the long term, and will uliimately save lives. Those who create lies so a great disservice to the British dead.
- Keith Price, Luton, England
