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Scott
08-29-2009, 04:20 PM
Gordon Brown has promised more support for UK troops in Afghanistan, during a surprise visit to the country.

Speaking from Helmand province, he pledged greater protection for troops from roadside bombs, which hours earlier claimed another British life.

His plans, which include the training of another 50,000 Afghan soldiers, came in the wake of criticism that UK forces are under-resourced.

The Conservatives said he was "woefully slow" in properly equipping soldiers.

As the prime minister was flying home from Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence announced the death of the 208th UK soldier to have died in Afghanistan since 2001.

A Royal Marine was killed on foot patrol in Helmand early on Saturday morning.

On his fourth visit to the country this year, the prime minister said that getting another 50,000 Afghan troops trained by November 2010 would enable them to "take more responsibility for their own affairs".


ANALYSIS
James Landale
BBC deputy political editor James Landale, in Helmand

After the army's bloodiest summer so far and weeks of controversy over possible helicopter shortages, the prime minister wanted to show not just his support for British troops, he also wanted to restate his case for war - namely that unchecked terrorism in Afghanistan could reach the streets of Britain.

Quicker training would need more British troops to train the Afghans and it is this which Mr Brown discussed with Gen Stanley McChrystal, the American head of Nato forces.

[Gen McChrystal] is expected soon to tell President Obama that more troops are needed across the board and some of them will almost certainly be British.
War now Brown's top priority
Royal Marine killed in explosion

He said new equipment was being brought in to the field, such as more armoured vehicles.

"[This is] new equipment simply to give better protection to our forces and at the same time to make them more manoeuvrable.

"That - working with a big lift in the Afghan forces - is going to be the next stage of the post-election effort in Afghanistan."

In 40-degree heat in the Helmand capital of Lashkar Gah, Mr Brown viewed the reconstruction work being carried out, and met Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, Chief of the Defence Staff, and US commander General Stanley McChrystal.

In promising greater help to counter the threat of improvised devices - which have caused a heavy toll among British forces - Mr Brown said another 200 extra anti-IED (improvised explosive device) specialists would be deployed in the autumn.

There would also be more unmanned surveillance aircraft and better protected vehicles, he said.

All these measures are to be paid for out of government reserves, over and above the defence budget.

WHAT GORDON BROWN PROMISED
200 specialist counter-IED soldiers this autumn, to join 200 sent earlier this year
increase in flights by unmanned surveillance aircraft like Hermes 450, Reaper and Desert Hawk
new Warthog tracked vehicles for next spring, six months early
20 more Ridgback protected vehicles for this autumn

The BBC's deputy political editor, James Landale, who was in Helmand with the prime minister, said that training that number of Afghans so quickly could potentially require an increase in the number of British troops.

There are currently 9,000 UK troops in the country, mostly in Helmand.

Shadow defence secretary Liam Fox said: "IEDs are the single biggest killer of British forces in Afghanistan and this government has been woefully slow to provide our troops with the equipment they need to minimise the risk to them in a very dangerous environment.

"While we welcome this much needed increase in counter-IED capability, the prime minister has left many questions unanswered."

These include, said Mr Fox, what will happen to the extra 900 troops temporarily deployed to provide increased security for the elections, and why so few of the 158 Ridgback protected vehicles ordered two years ago were now on the frontline.

Karzai talks

Former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, Colonel Richard Kemp, said increasing Afghan Army numbers from 85,000 to 135,000 in that time frame was possible if the US and UK invested sufficient resources.
Afghans with UK troops
With Afghan help, UK troops tried to make Helmand safer, pre-election

"It's essential we get them trained to give us some sort of exit strategy," he said, otherwise there was a danger the mission would lose public support and "drift".

While in the country, the prime minister spoke on the phone with President Hamid Karzai and his leading opponent, Abdullah Abdullah.

British troops had been trying to secure parts of Helmand ahead of the presidential election nine days ago.

The latest results showed President Karzai widening his lead and edging closer to the 50% required to avoid a run-off.

BBC correspondent Chris Morris, in Kabul, said that counting of votes has been slow amid "massive" allegations of fraud directed at the government.

Last week the new head of the British army, General Sir David Richards, pledged to focus on the military effort in Afghanistan, as he took over the role.

ghost
08-30-2009, 12:44 AM
Well at least one of our allies is contributing more to the fight. Seems to me like everyone else(no offense) is skimping out on their contribution.

Scott
08-31-2009, 05:44 PM
Well at least one of our allies is contributing more to the fight. Seems to me like everyone else(no offense) is skimping out on their contribution. yeah, they are helping us, mainly the UK and the US that are the main ones in the war, ofcourse we have shit loads of countries helping us, but its not enough.

aparantly this is all a publicity stunt for him, he spent 3 hours over there then went, and he went to the safest base of the lot, the troops even said he should have went to a base more to the frontline.

one troop said and i quote "A BRAVE Army Lance Corporal who put Gordon Brown on the spot by demanding to know why he pays tax while fighting for his country abroad was applauded last night. "

heres the full story.
http://www.apacheclips.com/boards/showthread.php?p=13025#post13025

dajini
08-31-2009, 10:06 PM
Well at least one of our allies is contributing more to the fight. Seems to me like everyone else(no offense) is skimping out on their contribution.

Denmark has the deadliest ratio of troops in country vs the number of KIA's they have had. You also have lesser known countries like the Netherlands and Poland that actively run combat missions. The more... ah... "peaceful" NATO members like France, Germany, Italy Spain, etc. may not do much in the ways of offensive operations, but every little bit helps. If they didn't have 3000 guys policing a province, that would be 3000 American / British combat troops that would have to go there. Remember, most NATO countries in Afghanistan still have Special Forces that go out and kick ass even if the country's official policy is peacekeeping, and all NATO forces have definitely become more aggressive lately.

They could definitely do more, though. I don't blame the generals or the soldiers, I blame the politicians. They need to wake up and realize it is a WAR, and wars are best run by generals, not by some fatass politician at home that gets a briefing once a week and calls themselves educated about the situation.

bobdina
08-31-2009, 10:25 PM
Denmark has the deadliest ratio of troops in country vs the number of KIA's they have had. You also have lesser known countries like the Netherlands and Poland that actively run combat missions. The more... ah... "peaceful" NATO members like France, Germany, Italy Spain, etc. may not do much in the ways of offensive operations, but every little bit helps. If they didn't have 3000 guys policing a province, that would be 3000 American / British combat troops that would have to go there. Remember, most NATO countries in Afghanistan still have Special Forces that go out and kick ass even if the country's official policy is peacekeeping, and all NATO forces have definitely become more aggressive lately.

They could definitely do more, though. I don't blame the generals or the soldiers, I blame the politicians. They need to wake up and realize it is a WAR, and wars are best run by generals, not by some fatass politician at home that gets a briefing once a week and calls themselves educated about the situation.

Very well said, Thats why I'm trying to find stories on the smaller countries like today's with the KIWI's, there entire force (all branches and reserves) are just over 9000 but they have 150 troops in country.


http://www.apacheclips.com/boards/showthread.php?t=3489 for pictures of them and there stats

ghost
09-01-2009, 10:58 PM
Denmark has the deadliest ratio of troops in country vs the number of KIA's they have had. You also have lesser known countries like the Netherlands and Poland that actively run combat missions. The more... ah... "peaceful" NATO members like France, Germany, Italy Spain, etc. may not do much in the ways of offensive operations, but every little bit helps. If they didn't have 3000 guys policing a province, that would be 3000 American / British combat troops that would have to go there. Remember, most NATO countries in Afghanistan still have Special Forces that go out and kick ass even if the country's official policy is peacekeeping, and all NATO forces have definitely become more aggressive lately.

They could definitely do more, though. I don't blame the generals or the soldiers, I blame the politicians. They need to wake up and realize it is a WAR, and wars are best run by generals, not by some fatass politician at home that gets a briefing once a week and calls themselves educated about the situation.



Spot on.

Bisley_Bob
09-02-2009, 09:37 AM
Those promises are too little too late. Even if they are delivered (i'm not holding my breath) we'll still be massively under resourced. We need tonnes more helicopters in theatre. Not to mention that us soldiers not deployed have none of the decent in-theatre kit to train on, which is a huge problem for things like driving vehicles with NVGs as its a skill that takes a long time to master. How many times have I heard on excercise "well in theatre we'd have (insert bit of kit here) so don't worry about that!"