Brown in Helmand plea to tackle ‘crucible of terror’
Call for Afghanistan and Pakistan to clean up border ‘breeding ground for terrorists’
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PRIME Minister Gordon Brown called on Pakistan and Afghanistan to work together last night to tackle what he called a “crucible of terrorism” threatening lives in the UK.
He warned that the lawless hinterland between the two countries was a “breeding ground for terrorists”.
The comments came during a frenetic day in which he visited troops on the front line in Helmand province and held talks with Presidents Hamid Karzai in Kabul and Asif Ali Zardari in Islamabad.
Mr Brown said the UK Government would be unveiling a new strategy towards the region tomorrow that will focus on the self-governing northern territories in Pakistan and the mountains of south Afghanistan. Some 25-30million people live in the zone, and the Taliban and Al Qaida operate almost with impunity.
Mr Brown praised troops at the Lashkar Gar base in Helmand for their “professionalism and bravery”.
“There is a chain of terrorism that goes from here round to the streets of Britain,” he said. “That’s why it’s absolutely important that while we have made progress on Afghan elections, democratic government, 6million children in education, hospitals as well as roads and infrastructure for the people of Afghanistan, that we defeat international terrorism and hold it back from here in Lashkar Gar, here in Helmand province, but also on the other side of the border in Pakistan.”
The UK wants provinces to be handed over to government control one by one – in much the same way as has happened in Iraq.
The strategy also calls for the Afghan army to be expanded from 75,000 to 135,000 by the end of 2011, alongside the recruitment of thousands more police.
Some £665million in development aid bound for Pakistan over the next four years is being re-focused on the northern areas.
During his visit to the base, which has seen fierce fighting over recent weeks, Mr Brown was given a briefing on the situation by Brigadier Tim Radford, commander of Task Force Helmand.
He then took part in a Shura, a meeting of local community leaders. He told the gathering, which included the province’s governor, Gulab Mangal: “We know there are insurgents wanting to take land in this area. We want to help you because it helps us to be safer too.”
The US commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan yesterday hit out at alliance members who refused to allow their troops to participate in the full range of military operations against the Taliban. In a scathing attack, General David McKiernan said that it was very difficult for troops to achieve their security objectives when they were “confined to the relative safety of their walled fortifications”. He said currently just four nations – the US, UK, Canada and Holland – were doing the “bulk” of the fighting against the Taliban.
Britain must not abandon its independent nuclear deterrent in the face of the current financial and economic crisis, Defence Secretary John Hutton warned yesterday. He said the deterrent was likely to be “vital” to national security for decades to come and that it would be “reckless” to get rid of it now.
Mr Hutton signalled a strengthening of the special forces – the SAS and SBS – as part of a “re-balancing” of the armed forces to deal with the threat they were facing from al Qaida and the Taliban.
