02 August 2009 : Sunday Times
By Michael Smith
BRITAIN is expected to send up to 2,000 more troops to Afghanistan as part of an effort by General Stanley McChrystal, the American commander, to train more Afghan soldiers and police.
At talks in Washington last week David Miliband, the foreign secretary, discussed with Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, the idea of Britain supplying more soldiers as part of a plan that would see Afghan forces more than double.
“We obviously have talked about it with not only those like the British troops and government who are so supportive, but those who don’t have troops on the ground but understand the importance of this,” said Clinton.
The move is likely to see a revival of British commanders’ plans to send 2,000 extra troops to Afghanistan, a proposal vetoed by Gordon Brown. With the government under fire over a series of failures to equip troops properly and restrictions on payouts to those wounded in battle, ministers are under pressure to ensure the necessary forces are provided.
American sources with knowledge of McChrystal’s thinking said he was likely to request an increase in the number of Afghan army and police from 150,000 to about 400,000. This will require a total of 12,000 military trainers.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) declined to comment before seeing the results of McChrystal’s review of the campaign in Afghanistan, but officials pointed out that the prime minister had said the most urgent British priority in Afghanistan was to build up the Afghan army and police force.
Both the outgoing head of the army, General Sir Richard Dannatt, and his successor, General Sir David Richards, who takes over at the end of the month, believe Britain should provide more troops.
Last week Dannatt, in his final speech in the job, told the International Institute for Strategic Studies that “success in Afghanistan is not discretionary and we must do whatever is necessary to succeed. If this means an uplift in Afghanspecific capabilities, so be it”.
McChrystal is due to present the results of his review in the next two weeks. He will also ask for thousands more combat troops for southern Afghanistan, more helicopters and surveillance drones and large numbers of civilian advisers.
John Nagl, president of the Centre for a New American Security, which was involved in McChrystal’s review, said 20 troops are needed for every 1,000 of the population, which would imply a force of 600,000 in Afghanistan. “We’re currently well below half that, so it should be no surprise that the fight isn’t going well. When we start approaching 500,000 the fight will go appreciably better and that should be our top priority,” Nagl said.
Meanwhile, MPs have added to the controversy over Brown’s Afghanistan policy. The foreign affairs select committee report, published today, suggests the government has lost sight of its priorities. It claims the MoD is trying to tackle too many issues, such as opium production and human rights, when the focus should be on security.
It claims that Britain’s operations in Helmand have been hampered by “unrealistic planning ... poor co-ordination and a failure to provide the military with clear direction”.
Last fighter factory faces axe
Britain will lose the ability to build fighter aircraft within five years after its decision last week to cancel orders for Eurofighter Typhoons worth £4.5 billion.
The RAF will receive only 160 — built by BAE Systems at Warton, Lancashire — instead of its planned 232.
Britain will then cease to build fighters. The Germans are seen as the industry’s only hope: they are insisting that Britain honour its commitment to buy all 232 jets.
