British forces 'will leave when Afghans are ready'

Defence Secretary John Reid today confirmed British forces will leave Afghanistan once the country can take control of its own security – as military officials warned that task could last more than a decade.

The cabinet minister offered reassurances of a continued UK presence to Afghani President Hamid Karzai and Defence Minister General Abdul Rahim Wardak in a series of talks in Kabul.

Mr Reid also reiterated a pledge to offer additional support next year to tackle the heroin trade and terrorism in the country’s lawless southern region - when Britain will increase troop numbers from 900 to as many as 4,000.

Speaking at the Afghanistan Ministry of Defence, Mr Reid said: “Our purpose here in Afghanistan is simple.

“It is to help the people and the government of Afghanistan to build their own strong institutions, take control of their own future and build for themselves the means of protecting that future.

“We have no long-term intention or self interest for us to stay here any longer than you think is useful.”

Addressing General Wardak, he added: “At the stage when you have the stability, that will be the time to depart.”

Mr Reid yesterday outlined plans for British troops to move into the notorious Helmand province in southern Afghanistan next year, as part of a Nato-led proposal to win control of the region for the Kabul government.

General Wardak insisted foreign rebels – many of whom are thought to be young Islamic extremists – are among resistance fighters and terrorists who lie in wait for UK soldiers.

He said there is evidence of a fresh influx of insurgents from overseas and it is also thought that there has been at least a nominal rise in Taliban activity.

Mr Reid confirmed that British troops will face a differing picture of dissent once they lead a Nato force into the area.

“There are the hardline extremists, the young radicals who are being paid to carry out attacks, and the drug-related mafia types,” he said.

Colonel Stephen Padget, commander of British forces working under the BritFor banner, admitted UK troops will find a complex situation.

“Unlike what we have encountered in the north and in Kabul, in the south there are lots of different groups with different motives,” he said.

He claimed American troops tasked with a combat role in the region had encountered ambushes from gangs as large as 100, but said those groups appear to be splintering.

“Lots of the groups will commonly have 20, 30 or 50 people, if those groups coalesce together, as the US found, they can be effective,” said Col Padget, of Yorkshire.

“There is less evidence of that happening at the moment, but when we go in to the south, we must go in with sufficient strength as to ensure we come second to no-one.”

In addition to the battle to rid the south of terrorists and the crime-ridden narco-economy, Mr Reid stressed in his meetings the importance of an enhanced British role in training Afghan National Army soldiers.

About 20 troops are currently deployed to work with junior and senior NCOs and their local instructors.

A Nato source said that the end strategy for international forces is to leave Afghanistan once the army and police were adequately trained and the country has self-sufficient security.

“It is difficult to put a time estimate on how quickly that will happen, but it is at least 10 years, possibly 15 away,” he said.

Mr Reid was later greeted by schoolchildren at the Abdul Ghafour Ahmadi School, built with £200,000 (€293,000) of UK money in one of Kabul’s poorest areas.

He told the young girls – who had been banned from education under the Taliban - and boys who make up the 3,000 pupils that Britain was giving them a “gift of education to shape their wn future“.