BRITISH TROOPS are in Afghanistan out of a sense of obligation and not as an occupying force, The British prime minister David Cameron said yesterday as he sought to bolster public support.
In an early morning speech to troops at the British base at Camp Bastion, in Helmand province, amid a sandstorm, the prime minister addressed unease back home by saying the mission in Afghanistan was vital for British national security.
Cameron, who pledged to “revere” Britain’s forces, said: “This is not a war of choice, it is a war of necessity. This is not a war of occupation, it is a war of obligation.” The prime minister, who was given a taste of the threat from the Taliban on Thursday when his helicopter flight was diverted after militants were heard planning to attack an unnamed VIP, reminded the troops that most of the 9/11 hijackers had been trained in Afghanistan.
“That is why we came here. That is why we cleared away those training camps. If we left tomorrow, those training camps could come back tomorrow, because the Afghans aren’t ready to look after their own security. As soon as they are ready, we can go home.” Cameron, who read out a message of support for the troops from Fabio Capello, the England football manager, and pledged to do more than the last government to support troops. He announced: - A doubling of the operational allowance, at a cost of £58m a year, to £29.02 a day, backdated to the general election. “I know how hard you all work out here.” - A republishing of the military covenant to ensure troops and their families are properly looked after with housing and healthcare.
- That he would ensure the armed forces won the sort of support they enjoyed during the two world wars and the Falklands war. “I want to put you front and centre of our national life again,” he said.
Cameron cited a series of “inspiring” acts, including that of Staff Sergeant Kim Hughes, who crawled through dust without body armour to defuse seven linked Taliban mines and reach injured comrades. “When Kim Hughes was asked, why he did what he did, he said ‘I was just doing my job’. But most people couldn’t do your job. I couldn’t your job.” Cameron was speaking on the second and final day of his first visit as prime minister.
He flew to Kabul amid tight security for talks with Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president. He said he would adopt a hard-headed approach designed to reduce the terror threat, and not to create a perfect society.
“I can sum up this mission in two words. It is about national security: our national security back in the UK. Clearing al-Qaeda out of Afghanistan, damaging them in Pakistan, making sure this country is safe and secure – it will make us safe and secure back home in the UK. We don’t have some dreamy ideas about this mission.”
Nine civilians were killed yesterday in a roadside mine blast in southern Afghanistan, an Afghan official said.