UK might have to send more toops to combat the Taliban

By MATTHEW HICKLEY

Last updated at 22:22 26 July 2007


The head of Britain's armed forces said we may have to send even more troops to Afghanistan because other countries are not pulling their weight.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup spoke out on the day that another UK soldier was killed fighting the Taliban.

The Chief of the Defence Staff voiced his “frustration” that our Nato allies have yet to provide the agreed minimum force needed to stabilise the war-torn country - and hinted Britain may have to shoulder an even greater burden in the years ahead.

“Of course I am frustrated that Nato has not managed to fill the minimum requirement but this is a very complex area and different countries take a different view,' he told BBC Radio 4's The World at One.

“What I think is important is that the international community as a whole puts enough effort into Afghanistan.”

Sir Jock said those Nato countries refusing to send troops should contribute more money towards reconstruction efforts.

“I think they should be doing more on other fronts, in terms of development, developing the police, in terms of developing civil society,” he added.

Nato currently has some 37,000 personnel in the country, but commanders say they need thousands more troops.

Sir Jock insisted that “enormous” progress has been made against the Taliban in the past year, but the coalition still has 'so far to go' to achieve stability. He added: “I suspect that we will, over time, want to increase our capacity in one or two areas to take advantage of those opportunities.”

Although Nato forces have inflicted heavy casualties in battles with the Taliban, grave concerns remain that the coalition lacks the manpower to hold and occupy territory they win.

Yesterday, the Ministry of Defence announced that a soldier from the 1st Battalion, the Grenadier Guards was killed during a major operation to drive Taliban fighters out of the Gereshk Valley in northern Helmand Province. It took the UK death toll in Afghanistan to 66 - of whom 43 have died due to enemy action.

The MoD also named another soldier killed in the same area on Wednesday as Lance Corporal Alex Hawkins, 22, of 1st Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment-He died when his Vector armoured vehicle - recently bought for the Army to provide better protection for troops - was hit by a roadside bomb while on patrol outside the town of Sangin.

The corporal, a trained sniper from East Dereham, Norfolk, was described by comrades as a “model soldier” who had “proved himself in combat many times”.

• The first New Zealander to win the Victoria Cross since the Second World War received his medal yesterday.

SAS Corporal Bill Apiata, 35, carried a critically wounded comrade to safety while under heavy fire during a battle with insurgents in Afghanistan.

He was also a member of an SAS squad that won a presidential citation from President Bush in 2004 for its actions in Afghanistan.

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