Afghanistan
Issue- The Prime Minister is expected to make a statement this afternoon on Afghanistan, given progress on the 3 conditions he had set for the deployment of 500 additional troops.
Key points
- As General Richards, the new head of the Army, said on 14 October: "This is the right decision and it reflects the military advice the Prime Minister has received since the summer. We asked for 9,500 and that is what we have got."
- Military Chiefs will today tell the War Cabinet' (the National Security, International Relations and Development Committee - NSID) that the military has the equipment needed to commit more troops to Afghanistan - all of it properly resourced.
- Newly arrived Merlin helicopters have today been given the green light' for operations in Afghanistan, one month ahead of schedule.
- We have doubled helicopter flying hours since three years ago - and this will increase by a further 20% in the coming months.
- Aerial surveillance hours available to commanders have increased significantly, helping to track and target the Taliban's IED teams.
- By the end of the year, the number of heavily armoured, mine-resistant Mastiff vehicles will have almost doubled since august, and the number of Ridgeback, a smaller, more agile version of the Mastiff, will have increased by over 75% - showing the results of our investment over the last three years of more than £1 billion in addition to the regular defence budget in vehicles for Afghanistan.
- Three years ago, equipment and support for our forces deployed to Afghanistan - funded from the Treasury Reserve, over and above the defence budget - was estimated at around £190,000 for each individual there. This year it is more than double that, at £390,000, and it is still rising.
- The other two conditions that the PM set for the extra troop deployment, in addition to having the necessary equipment, are commitment from the Afghan government (including action on corruption and on local governance - about which the PM spoke at the weekend) and burden sharing across NATO (where good progress is being made, a number of countries have made pledges with more expected to follow, and President Obama is expected to make a statement tomorrow).
- We are in Afghanistan to safeguard our own national security. Either we help Afghanistan and Pakistan to fight violent extremists in their own countries - or we wait for them to carry out more terrorist attacks on us and the rest of the world. Our strategy is focused on "Afghanisation": an Afghan Government, including the Army and Police, strong enough to take on terrorism and violent extremism themselves. When they are ready, our troops can come home - and the PM will host an international conference in London in January to set out the roadmap for this process - including the handover of the first provinces and districts starting later in 2010. But as the PM emphasised over the weekend, no timetable is being set for scaling back the UK force, which will happen only when Afghans are ready to take over security.
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