By IRNA,
London : Britain’s chief of defence staff has hinted for the first time that more troops could be sent to Afghanistan by reversing previous reports that ruled out redeploying the UK’s remaining 4,000 service personnel in Iraq.
But speaking at the Royal United Services Institute in London, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup insisted that any additional force sent to Afghanistan must be smaller than the 4,000 troops that will soon leave Iraq.
The UK was now “close” to a “dramatic” reduction in numbers in Iraq, but there could be no “one-for-one” transfer from there to Afghanistan, Stirrup said.
“I’m not saying that we couldn’t or shouldn’t do more in Afghanistan if we judge that to be necessary,” he was quoted saying by the Daily Telegraph Tuesday.
A change in policy was first signalled by Foreign Secretary David Miliband during a visit to Afghanistan last week, when he said that the British government will consider any request from US President- elect Barack Obama to send more troops.
“Any question of more troops depends on what they would do and whether they are part of a genuinely comprehensive strategy,” Miliband said.
The Ministry of Defence has previously been reported to be seeking to consolidate the country’s overstretched armed forces following the withdrawal of troops from Iraq after fighting on two fronts for nearly six years.
In his speech, the chief of defence staff also repeated calls for Britain’s overall foreign commitments to reduce, while giving a stark assessment of NATO’s work in Afghanistan.
In particular, he said the Taliban are winning on “information operations,” successfully spreading propaganda about civilian casualties caused by NATO forces and leaving Afghan civilians frightened and insecure.
“They’ve beaten us to the punch on numerous occasions, and by doing so they’ve magnified the sense of difficulty and diminished the sense of progress. This is down in part to their skill, and in part to our own failings,” Stirrup warned.
He urged politicians and voters to keep a sense of perspective about what can be achieved in Afghanistan, describing it as “in many respects a Medieval country.”
The best the best the West can hope for is to help the country make gradual and modest progress towards security and democracy, the admiral said.
“Terms like winning and victory have no place in the lexicon there,” he said.