The defence secretary predicts the Afghan army will take over operations within a year. But with their soldiers overworked and underpaid, is that ambition realistic? Alex Thomson reports.
Biography
Alex has been chief correspondent and a main presenter of Channel 4 News since 1998 and has won 10 awards since joining the programme as a reporter 10 years earlier.
As well as regularly anchoring the programme, Alex has covered 15 wars in the Gulf, Balkans, Africa and Afghanistan.
Over the years he has become closely identified with the programme's investigations into the events of Bloody Sunday - for which he won the RTS award in 1997 and was threatened with prosecution for refusing to disclose sources, a threat that was later recalled - and the 1994 Chinook helicopter crash on the Mull of Kintyre.
Most recently, he was the first to get a straight "no" out of David Cameron concerning his drug use while an MP.
Before joining Channel 4 News Alex worked for BBC Television and Radio in Northern Ireland. He has also written books about India and the Gulf War.
Alex writes a regular column for Press Gazette.
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Alex Thomson
