British Premier vows support for Afghanistan in Kabul visit
Washington, 22 August (IranVNC)—In a surprise visit to Kabul yesterday, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown reaffirmed his country’s support for Afghanistan and vowed to support increasing Afghanistan’s army and police forces.
By: IranVNC
Published: Friday, August 22, 2008
18:20GMT—2:20PM/EST
BRITAIN – AFGHANISTAN
Washington, 22 August (IranVNC)—In a surprise visit to Kabul yesterday, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown reaffirmed his country’s support for Afghanistan and vowed to support increasing Afghanistan’s army and police forces.
Brown flew from London to Afghanistan’s southern Helmand Province, where he met British troops, and later flew to Kabul for talks with Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai.
“We are utterly resolute in our determination to support this new democracy of Afghanistan,” the British daily, The Guardian, quoted Brown as saying.
Speaking in a news conference in Kabul, he continued: “We won’t relax our efforts to support and reconstruct Afghanistan because we understand that what happens in Afghanistan affects the rest of the world.”
Brown also told reporters that Britain, which currently has more than 8,400 troops in Afghanistan, would “put more resources into the training and mentoring” the Afghan National Army.
“There are now 60,000 in the Afghan army, I believe the figures will go up from 60,000 to 80,000 and then 120,000,”Reuters quoted him as saying.“I believe that in time the figure for the Afghan army, given the size of this country, may need to be even higher than 120,000.”
Earlier this month, the U.S. endorsed a multi-billion dollar plan proposed by the Afghan government to expand the size of Afghanistan’s army to 122,000 over the next five years.
Britain, one of the largest donors to Afghanistan, has lost at least 116 British soldiers in fighting in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion in 2001, Reuters reports.
Sources: Reuters, The Guardian newspaper
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