By IRNA,
London : Britain was marking its annual Armed Forces Day this weekend amid concern about the growing casualties being suffered by its troops in Afghanistan.
National military parades are being held in towns and cities across the UK to show support for the armed forces after 12 soldiers were killed in Helmand province in the past 10 days.
Anti-war activists are using the date to launch six days of action, during which protests and street theatre are being organised outside three army recruitment offices in London.
A five-day walk is also planned from London to the military prison in Colchester where soldier Joe Glenton is currently being held for refusing to fight in Afghanistan.
Prime Minister David Cameron, who is meeting US President Barak Obama in Canada, announced on Friday that he wants British troops withdrawn from Afghanistan within five years.
But Stop The War Coalition (STWC) warned that at least another 400 troops could be killed in addition to the 307 who have already died in Afghanistan if Britain remains there until 2015.
“There is no justification for British troops to stay a single day longer to kill and be killed in Afghanistan,” STWC spokesman Robin Beste said.
“Cameron will have the blood on his hands of every British soldier who is killed or seriously wounded and every Afghan civilian who dies as a result of the continuing occupation,” Beste said in a statement obtained by IRNA.
The Christian political thinktank Ekklesia criticised the “jingoism” of Armed Forces Day, saying the UK government should instead re-focus on conflict resolution.
“The prime minister’s attempts to whip up military fervour at a time of sobering news about the 300th fatality of the nine-year military campaign are misplaced,” said Ekklesia co-director Simon Barrow.
““Historically, governments that try to shift attention away from economic crisis and foreign policy flaws by whipping up patriotism, risk being seen as patronising the public and failing to recognise the real policy challenges,” Barrow said.
“In the case of Afghanistan, people remain rightly sceptical about a war on which Britain has spent £20 billion in the past nine years. The flames of global conflict need to be addressed soberly rather than stoked right now,” he said.