British PM Visits Afghanistan As Canada Loses Another Three Soldiers

THE STANS

3 Canadian troops killed in Afghanistan - death toll, 103
Three Canadian troops were killed in Afghanistan Saturday, bringing to 103 Canada's death toll since it its military mission began there in 2002, the Defense Ministry said. The three soldiers were killed and another was wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near their armored vehicle while on patrol in the Arghandab district of southern Kandahar province, a ministry statement said. The deaths bring the number of Canadian service members killed in war-torn Afghanistan to 103 since Ottawa deployed forces there in 2002. One Canadian diplomat and two humanitarian workers have also been killed in Afghanistan. Three other Canadian soldiers were also killed in Arghandab by a roadside bomb on December 5. Canada has a 2,750-strong force in southern Afghanistan. Canada on Thursday said its mission in Afghanistan would last until 2011, after US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates suggested during a visit to Kandahar that he would welcome an extension from Ottawa. But Canada's Parliament "has decided that our mission there ends in 2011," said Dan Dugas, spokesman for Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay. While campaigning for the October legislative elections that his party won, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Canada did not agree to a further extension of the Canadian mission beyond 2011. Observers expected, however, that Canada would be pressured to maintain troops in the country beyond that date due to the importance given to the Afghan mission by US president-elect Barack Obama, who will take office on January 20. During a visit to Kandahar, Gates acknowledged Thursday the role and sacrifices of Canadian forces in Afghanistan since Ottawa deployed forces in the country in 2002. No other country partnered with the United States has "worked harder or sacrificed more than the Canadians," he said in comments, broadcast by CBC television, that have been seen as indicating the desire to see the Canadian contingent stay beyond 2011. "They have been outstanding partners for us, and all I can tell you is ... the longer we can have Canadian soldiers as our partners, the better it is," he said. The commander of the Canadian forces in Afghanistan, General Denis Thompson, when the death toll hit 100 told reporters that Canadian troops had been involved in tough fighting in the area. "We've been leaning on the enemy quite hard the last three months ... Fighting "terrorism and injustice is not easy," he said, adding that the effort "requires sacrifices." Thompson said the death toll was not something the military was focusing on. "The figure is not important for soldiers. The soldiers are only talking about their brothers at arms. They're only thinking about their brothers at arms," he said. "The number is not important for a soldier or for us here at headquarters." Photo courtesy AFP.

by Staff Writers
Kabul (AFP) Dec 13, 2008
Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown Saturday paid a surprise visit to Afghanistan, where he spoke to troops battling the Taliban and held talks with President Hamid Karzai.

The visit came as government and military sources speaking on condition of anonymity said around 300 British soldiers had been deployed from Cyprus as part of an increase in troop levels ahead of next year's presidential election.

Brown condemned Friday's "terrible" killing of British soldiers in Afghanistan, and said that other nations must also send more troops in support of the plan.

He said the world could not rely only on the two biggest contributors, Britain and the United States, whose president-elect Barack Obama has said he will send more troops to Afghanistan.

Britain's military is feeling the pinch as it fights on two major fronts -- in Afghanistan, where it has more than 8,000 troops as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), and Iraq.

"In future, there must be proper burden sharing and that's something which we will insist upon," he said at a Kabul press conference with Karzai.

"As we look forward with president Obama's plans now about to come forward, then burden sharing is very much a part of that."

Brown said he was in Afghanistan to "take stock" of the situation.

He announced 10 million dollars in funding to encourage registration in the election and said a taskforce of British officials had been offered to Afghanistan to root out corruption.

He also called on Pakistan and Afghanistan to work together to ensure cross-border stability in the mountainous area seen as a militants' hideout between the two nations.

"Joint action between Pakistan and Afghanistan... is essential if we're going to have peace and stability," he said.

Brown started his visit to Afghanistan in Camp Bastion, the huge British military base in southern Helmand province, where he spoke out against two fatal incidents Friday.

"It is a terrible commentary on the Taliban that they should use a 13-year-old child as a suicide bomber," he said, referring to one attack which killed three and involved a teenager with a bomb hidden in a wheelbarrow.

"There is disgust and horror at these tactics being used by the Taliban," he added.

He later took a helicopter to the Roshan observation post near Musa Qala, near where the troops died and a stone's throw from where Taliban fighting has been taking place, and met Gurkha soldiers serving there.

Officials said the trip took him right up to the front line, with one claiming he got closer to fighting than any British premier since World War II leader Winston Churchill.

Brown also met acting district governor Said Agha and the local chief of police before returning to Camp Bastion for a meeting with Helmand governor Gulab Mangal covering next year's elections, counter-narcotics and security.

The British prime minister left Kabul late Saturday, bound for New Delhi.

A government source said Britain was set to confirm Monday that the troop reinforcements ahead of the elections had been carried out in the last few weeks.

A military source added they would be trying to secure prime agricultural and poppy-growing land in Helmand alongside other nations including Denmark and Estonia.

A total of 132 British personnel have died in Afghanistan since the start of operations in 2001, including the latest attacks.

International forces are fighting Taliban militia who were in power between 1996 and 2001 before being ousted in a US-led invasion after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US blamed on Al-Qaeda operatives based in Afghanistan.

The Taliban is waging an insurgency which has gained pace in recent years.

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THE STANS

Scores Killed On All Sides As Afghani War Continues

London (AFP) Dec 12, 2008
Four British troops were killed in two separate explosions Friday in troubled southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said.

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