Britain has offered to host an international conference in January to set a timetable for transferring security responsibilities to Afghan forces from next year, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Monday. The bloodiest year for British troops in Afghanistan has fuelled public opposition to the campaign, creating another headache for Brown as he tries to close a big gap on the opposition Conservatives ahead of an election due by June.
Brown, trying to show voters he had an exit strategy, argues that expanding training of Afghan security forces may allow Britain to reduce its troop numbers over time. He also presented the mission as part of the fight against al Qaeda, the militant Islamist group. Brown said that he had offered London as a venue for an international meeting on Afghanistan in January. "I want that conference to chart a comprehensive political framework within which the military strategy can be accomplished," he said in excerpts of a speech he is due to deliver on Monday evening.
Britain has the second largest foreign military contingent in Afghanistan after the United States, with 9,000 soldiers. But the rise in the British death toll to 233 since the US-led invasion in 2001 has led many Britons to question the war while Brown has been accused of failing to provide British forces with the helicopters and armoured vehicles they need.
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