14 July 2010: Reuters
By Adrian Croft
LONDON (Reuters) - General David Richards, who has suggested coalition forces in Afghanistan could open talks soon with the Taliban, is to take over as Britain's top military commander, the government said Wednesday.
Richards, 58, will become chief of the defence staff in October after the new coalition government completes a sweeping defence review that could drastically reshape Britain's armed forces and lead to deep defence spending cuts.
Richards, who replaces Air Chief Marshal Jock Stirrup, takes over when public pressure is growing for Britain to withdraw its 9,500 troops from Afghanistan after nine years of conflict that have killed 318 British soldiers.
Richards, who currently heads the army, commanded the NATO force in Afghanistan for nine months from May 2006. Before that, he served in Germany, Northern Ireland, East Timor and Sierra Leone.
Richards said in an interview last month he assumed British forces, the second largest foreign contingent in Afghanistan after the United States', would be involved in Afghanistan for another three to five years.
This is in tune with the thinking of Prime Minister David Cameron, who has said he wants British combat troops home from Afghanistan within five years.
Richards told the BBC last month that he saw no reason why talks with the Taliban should not begin "pretty soon" as part of an exit strategy for international forces from Afghanistan.
That approach has been backed by Defence Secretary Liam Fox who said last month he had discussed with Richards the idea of talking to some Taliban.
President Barack Obama has set out a timetable under which the "surge" of U.S. troops ordered last year would be followed by gradual withdrawals from the middle of 2011.
The promotion of Richards was announced a day after a renegade Afghan soldier killed three British army troops.
Richards will oversee the British military at a time when it may have to scale back its ambitions, capabilities and manpower to contribute to the government's efforts to rein in a record peacetime budget deficit.
Major defence projects, such as two new aircraft carriers and the Joint Strike Fighter, are expected to come under intense scrutiny.
Richards has suggested in the past he is no fan of big-ticket defence projects.
In a speech in January, he said Britain's armed forces should adapt to new forms of warfare and tight budgets by giving priority to troops on the ground and spending less on expensive weapons systems.
"While ... I am emphatically not advocating getting rid of all such equipment, one can buy a lot of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles or drones) or satellite technology for the cost of a few JSF (Joint Strike Fighters) and heavy tanks," he said.
(Additional reporting by Tim Castle; Editing by David Stamp)
