Britain's defence secretary said Wednesday that 2011 and 2012 are crucial in the fight against the Afghan insurgency and that Nato forces are now strong enough to make a lasting difference in the war against the Taliban. British Defence Secretary Liam Fox also said that any drawdown this year of British troops serving with Nato will be based on conditions on the ground, and that a change in their role from combatting insurgents to training Afghan forces may take place over the next two years.
Britain's prime minister has said his country's troops will end their combat role in Afghanistan by 2015. "I think only recently we have been in a position to give the military what they have actually asked in terms of what they need to do the mission and we are seeing successes," Fox said.
Britain has about 10,000 troops including 500 special forces in Afghanistan, mainly based in the southern Helmand province. Since 2001, a total of 349 British military personnel have died in Afghanistan, including a soldier killed in a bomb blast last Saturday. During his visit, Fox met with troops and Nato commanders in Helmand, had meetings with President Hamid Karzai in Kabul and travelled to the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.
"We are in a crucial period of 2011-2012 when the Taliban will be denied their greatest propaganda weapon, which has been that the international coalition will be leaving in the summer," Fox said, referring to a decision by heads of state at the Nato summit last November to keep combat troops in Afghanistan until the end of 2014. Nato hopes that Afghanistan's security forces will by then be able to take over security for the country.
Although President Barack Obama has said there will be a withdrawal of US troops in July 2011, he has said their number will be based on conditions of the ground. Military officials expect the number of troops to withdraw will be small. Fox said Britain would apply the same condition to its own troops, but that it would be wrong to predict in January what would happen by the end of the year.
"Any reductions will be based on conditions on the ground and conditions have improved, but we will want to ensure that progress is maintained and we also want to ensure that the Nato training mission for Afghanistan is fully up to speed. What you may see is a change in the role of British troops in 2011-2012 more into a training role."