Military plans possible early Afghan withdrawal

08:00, 14 September 2012

LONDON. September 14. KAZINFORM The pace of the British withdrawal from Afghanistan could quicken next year because military commanders have changed their views about how many troops need to remain to help local security forces fight the Taliban, the defence secretary has said.

In an interview with the Guardian, Philip Hammond admitted that six months ago the military was privately pushing "for keeping force levels as high as possible for as long as possible", the Guardian reports.

But he said British military thinking was evolving because commanders had been "surprised by the extent to which they have been able to draw back and leave the Afghans to take the lion's share of the combat role".

The UK has closed 52 of its military bases and checkpoints in Helmand province over the last six months, leaving 34 still operating, he revealed.

"I think there is a bit of a rethinking going on about how many troops we do actually need ... there may be some scope for a little bit more flexibility on the way we draw down, and that is something commanders on the ground are looking at very actively."

Though Hammond refused to go into details and said no decisions had been taken, this is the first acknowledgment from the government that the UK's long march out of Afghanistan could accelerate markedly next year, rather than waiting until 2014 - the end date for the British military effort in Helmand, which began in 2006.

In the interview Hammond also said:

He was concerned that the rioting which led to the murder of the US ambassador in Libya could spread to Afghanistan, and measures had been taken to beef up security around British bases, and prevent the "unnecessary exposure of personnel" to potential trouble, especially on Friday after prayers.
Britain would not be "spooked" by the spate of "green on blue" attacks this year - where Afghan troops killed their British colleagues. He revealed that 60 soldiers had been sacked from the Afghan army in recent weeks, and 600 others were being scrutinised by a joint UK/Afghan inquiry into the killings. He said the UK had found serious weaknesses in the way Afghan soldiers were being managed.
Britons would have to "get used to the idea" that any peace in Afghanistan will need to involve "reaching out Northern Ireland-style to at least the moderate part of the insurgency, to try to bring it inside through reconciliation and integration".
The Afghan government needed to do much more to bring about a political settlement with the insurgents because the diplomatic effort was lagging behind the military campaign.

During a trip to Afghanistan in which he met President Hamid Karzai in Kabul and mingled with troops at the British base in Camp Bastion, Hammond was frank about the situation in Afghanistan and what he regarded as the UK's principle objectives.

However, it is his remarks on the "draw down" that will provoke interest among all Britain's partners in Nato's International Security and Assistance Force.

Britain is withdrawing 500 troops by the end of this year, leaving 9,000.

But though the extent and timing of next year's withdrawal will depend on US plans, this is Hammond's first admission that British commanders are now reassessing how many troops they need - because, he said, they have been encouraged at the way Afghan National Security Forces have taken to the battle.

This could lead to thousands more troops coming home next year than might have been expected, a withdrawal that would probably start in September.

"I think that the message I am getting clearly from the military is that it might be possible to draw down further troops in 2013," Hammond said. "Whereas six months ago the message coming from them was that we really need to hold on to everything we have got for as long as we possibly can. I think they are seeing potentially more flexibility in the situation.

"Talking to senior commanders you get a clear sense that their view of force levels is evolving in light of their experiences."

He was also unusually blunt about Britain's role in Afghanistan. Now that al-Qaida had been "eliminated" from the country, it was not right to ask troops to put their lives at risk for nation-building, he said.

"We have to be clear why we came here in the first place. I believe very clearly that if we are going to ask British troops to put themselves in the firing line, we can only do that to protect UK vital national security interests.

"We can ask troops who are here to help build a better Afghanistan, but we cannot ask them to expose themselves to risk for those tasks. We can only ask them to expose themselves to risk for Britain's national security, which is what they signed up to do."