BRITISH TROOPS will move from Sangin in Helmand province in Afghanistan where they have suffered heavy losses to another part of the province later this year, although there are fears the Taliban will portray the redeployment as evidence that foreign forces can be forced out of the country.
Defence secretary Liam Fox told MPs that US marines will take over in Sangin, while British troops move to Helmand’s central district. More British troops will be moved from Cyprus in the coming months to ensure an orderly handover by October.
More than 300 British soldiers have died in Afghanistan since 2001, 100 of them in Sangin alone. Prime minister David Cameron said it was time to boost military operations in Afghanistan, while insisting that he wanted British troops home by 2015 and their place taken by properly trained local forces.
The defence secretary said the redeployment had been agreed with the Americans. “Helmand as a whole is a safer place as a result of our endeavours and sacrifices there. I pay tribute to those who have lost their lives in Sangin and those who continue to serve there,” he said.
Maj Gen Gordon Messenger said there would always be “a bit of Sangin in the bloodstream” of the British army and royal marines given the losses suffered, but “sentiment” could not be allowed to outweigh “sensible” allocation of resources. The US marines now have twice the number of troops in Helmand as the British.
Mr Cameron’s stress on a 2015 withdrawal from Afghanistan has been questioned by two former Labour defence secretaries, Geoff Hoon and Bob Ainsworth. Mr Hoon said: “There’s nothing wrong with having an ambition but the important thing is that that doesn’t become a specific target.”
Mr Ainsworth called on Mr Cameron to clear up the confusion about whether Britain would leave only when conditions had been met – such as the number of trained Afghan troops available, or whether they would quit by 2015 anyway.