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Old 07-19-2010, 03:40 PM
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Default Liam Fox: troops will leave Afghanistan by 2014

Liam Fox: troops will leave Afghanistan by 2014

07-19-2010 02:58 AM

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Mon, 2010-07-19 10:56


Liam Fox: troops will leave Afghanistan by 2014


Liam Fox: troops will leave Afghanistan by 2014

Source: The Daily Telegraph

British front line combat troops fighting the Taliban are scheduled to withdraw from Afghanistan by 2014, Liam Fox, the Defence Secretary, has said.
Dr Fox said that within four years the Afghan army and police should take responsibility for security, leaving British troops to work only as military trainers.
The date is a full year earlier than the deadline suggested by David Cameron this month, who said he wanted most troops back by 2015.
Dr Fox said that Mr Cameron's timetable was somewhat "conservative," and that the Government hoped the withdrawal of combat troops would take place a year earlier.
He spoke as foreign ministers from more than 60 countries converged on Kabul for a conference announcing the clearest timetable yet for withdrawing troops from the nearly nine-year-long conflict.
A communiqué to be agreed at Tuesday's conference is expected to see ministers formally back Hamid Karzai's objective "that the Afghan forces should lead and conduct military operations in all provinces by the end of 2014."
Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, Dr Fox said: "It has always been our aim to be successful in the mission and the mission has always said that the Afghan national security forces would be able to deal with their own security by 2014."
"We recognise that there will be further work to do in terms of training and improving the quality of those forces beyond that, which is why we have said training forces may be available after that date.
"But we have made it very clear that that will not be combat forces."
Britain has lost 322 troops since operations began in 2001 and the death toll has risen sharply in the past 18 months. Twenty British soldiers died last month and 13 have died already in July.
Politicians have struggled to reassure the public that Britain is not locked in a military quagmire.
President Barack Obama has already said he will begin drawing down American troop numbers in July 2011.
However, the Nato secretary-general last week warned in The Daily Telegraphthat "artificial" deadlines for withdrawal would only comfort the Taliban and even encourage them to step up violence.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen said: "They do believe that if we set artificial timetables for our withdrawal, they can just sit down and wait us out and they will return when we have left." Nato said on Sunday it had intercepted a letter from Mullah Mohammad Omar, the fugitive Taliban leader, rallying his troops to fight to the death and kill those working with foreign forces or the government.
Coalition forces will continue to "provide the support necessary to increase security during this time", including training, equipment and money according to draft conference communiqué.
It adds: "The government of Afghanistan and the international community agreed to jointly assess provinces, with the aim of announcing by the end of 2010 that the process of transition is under way."
The gradual handover will be a "conditions-based and phased transition".
Military sources have said it is unlikely any of Afghanistan's 34 provinces will be handed over before early to mid-2011.
The conference will also agree to a foreign-bankrolled trust fund to coax 36,000 Taliban fighters from the insurgency with offers of jobs, training and aid for their villages.
Hamid Karzai's backers hope the conference will allow his mistrusted regime to win over Afghans with pledges of reform.
Kabul will agree to shoulder greater responsibility for rebuilding the country and sign up to targets for purging corruption, road-building, education, recruiting civil servants and tax collection.
In return, it will receive half of international aid direct into its coffers rather than to aid contractors. Currently only a fifth of donor money passes via the Afghan treasury amid fears it is being creamed off by corrupt officials.
Kabul is expected to grind to a halt under tight security precautions with guests such as William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, Hillary Clinton, United States Secretary of State, and Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations Secretary General, offering high-profile targets for a spectacular insurgent attack.
Three people died in the city yesterday (SUN) morning when a bomber on a bicycle detonated in a bustling in the biggest attack Kabul has seen for two months.
One diplomat told The Daily Telegraph: "As far as the conference goes, we just hope as many foreign ministers leave as arrive."







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