UK tries to form coalition to fight in Afghanistan
(The Guardian)
Updated: 2005-11-15 17:03

Britain is attempting to build a coalition to pursue counter-insurgency combat operations against al-Qaida and Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan after the withdrawal by the Bush administration of 4,000 US troops early next year, reported The Guardian.

Talks with Australia, Canada, New Zealand and several other countries are being held before a Nato meeting in Brussels on December 7. They follow the refusal of European allies, such as France and Germany, to allow their troops to become involved in counter-insurgency.

The discussions are among preparations for the deployment of 2,000 crack British troops backed by Apache attack helicopters to lawless Helmand province at the head of an expanded, British-led Nato force next spring. An additional 2,000 British troops are expected to be sent to Afghanistan next year bringing the total number to somewhere around 4,800. The British mission in the south represents a significant escalation of its overall involvement in Afghanistan. Military sources said it was potentially more hazardous - and could last longer - than Britain's postwar involvement in Iraq.

"The debate is not whether, but to what extent these troops will get into counter-insurgency and counter-narcotics," a military source said. "We are not talking war fighting. But there is potential for armed conflict in some areas. The reality is that there are warlords, drug traffickers, al-Qaida, al-Qaida wannabes and Taliban."

An officer said: "It could take longer to crack than Iraq. It could take 10 years."

Violence in Afghanistan is at its highest since the 2001 US-led invasion. Suicide bombers killed a German peacekeeper in Kabul yesterday. A British soldier died recently in a gun battle in Mazar-i-Sharif.

The source said talks were under way with other countries about contributions to Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) operations in Helmand. "Are they prepared to completely go war-fighting or do they want to do other things?

"The bits of the equation that have to be resolved are the overall size of the force package, where they will be and, depending on the Nato mood music and the realities on the ground, what their mandate will be."

Australia confirmed yesterday it was in talks about sending troops to southern Afghanistan. Fifty New Zealand SAS soldiers are understood to be serving in the south, at present under US command, after their tour of duty was extended. Canada has 1,500 troops in Afghanistan and offers to join the British-led force in the south have been received from the Netherlands, Denmark and Estonia.

Despite US pressure, France, Germany, Spain and Italy have refused to expand the mandate for their peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan to include "war on terror" combat operations. But their reluctance and the increased pressure on British forces is causing concern among MPs.

Sir Menzies Campbell, Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, said: "Nato runs the risk of embarrassment if it cannot find sufficient troops of good quality for the mission. The government has claimed that everything will be all right on the night ... this seems optimistic."

The Ministry of Defence said yesterday the aim of the mission "would be to help restore Afghanistan as a secure state and prevent it again becoming a haven for terrorists". In a Commons statement, Adam Ingram, the armed forces minister, said "no final decisions ... had yet been made. But it was "sensible to begin British preparations for potential deployment".

Britain is also planning to send up to 2,000 additional troops to Kabul to bolster the Isaf peacekeeping operation, of which it will take command next spring. The deployments will raise British troops in Afghanistan to more than 4,000 compared with 8,500 in south-east Iraq.

The US will remove most of its troops in the south early next year and reduce troop levels in line with reductions in Iraq. The British troop build-up is expected to start in the new year.

Violence across Afghanistan has escalated in recent months despite US claims that democracy is taking root. Up to 1,500 people have been killed this year.