British casualties - price worth paying?
Updated on 17 August 2009
Despite British military leaders insisting war in Afghanistan cannot be won by military means alone, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth insists this is a winnable war. Carl Dinnen reports.
Ainsworth spoke as the deaths of another three British soldiers were confirmed. The soldiers from The 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers died yesterday in Afghanistan after they came under attack while on patrol near Sangin in Helmand province. Next of kin have been informed.
Their deaths bring the total British losses to 204 servicemen and women since operations began in 2001. See the full list of fatalities here.
The Ministry of Defence today released the latest figures of the number of soldiers wounded while on operations in Afghanistan. The figures show a continuous rise in injuries since the beginning of the year, with more injured last month than in the whole of 2006.
Seventy six soldiers have been seriously injured in action so far this year with 236 injured in total - one more than the total number in 2008.
Since the start of military action in Afghanistan 245 soldiers have been seriously wounded - 790 in total.
The family of the 200th soldier killed in Afghanistan said today their thoughts were with other injured service personnel and bereaved families as the death toll continued to rise ahead of elections in the war-torn country.
Private Richard Hunt, 21, from The 2nd Battalion The Royal Welsh, died of his wounds at a military hospital in Selly Oak on Saturday. He was injured while on patrol near Musa Qaleh in Helmand Province three days earlier.
Tributes were also paid to Sergeant Simon Valentine of 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers who was killed on Saturday August 15.
Foreign affairs correspondent Nick Paton Walsh came under attack with US forces as the coalition face determined Taliban resistance in southern Afghanistan. Watch his report here.
Gordon Brown expressed his "sorrow" for the latest deaths, but insisted the mission in Afghanistan remained "vital".
"In these moments of sorrow and sadness, we must never forget why we are in Afghanistan and why people are making the sacrifice that they are making," he said.
"Three quarters of the terrorist plots that hit Britain derive from the mountain areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan and it is to make Britain safe and the rest of the world safe that we must make sure we honour our commitment to maintain a stable Afghanistan."
Amid controversy over equipment shortages - particularly helicopters - the prime minister also pledged that the government would provide support.
"I want everybody to know today that every effort that we make is to ensure the best security and the best equipment for our troops," he said.
"That's why we've increased dramatically the resources we are spending in Afghanistan to deal with this new kind of threat, which is the roadside bomb, the electronic devices, the guerrilla warfare being practised by the Taliban."
The latest casualties were announced after Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth suggested the UK's role in Afghanistan could be scaled down over the next 12 months.
Mr Ainsworth said: "I genuinely believe that in the next year or so that we will be able to show a degree of progress.
"It will not be at a situation where we will be able to pull back, but we will increasingly see the Afghan national army taking the front.
"We will be more in a mentoring and a training situation, you know, giving them the steer and the capacity and the knowledge to be able to do the job that they will need to do."
The remarks, made on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, were greeted with scepticism by opposition parties, who accused the government of spinning to try to cover up its errors.
Shadow defence secretary Liam Fox said: "Has the government made an agreement with the Americans to hand over Helmand to them?
"If so we should be told about it. Or is it just spin designed to detract from the failure of the Government to fully equip our troops in Afghanistan?"
Liberal Democrat defence spokesman Nick Harvey said it was not "remotely possible" for UK troops to leave the front line within a year, and called on ministers to be "honest".
"Rather than trying to sway public opinion with false optimism, Bob Ainsworth must admit we need a fundamental change of gear, and a shift from a purely military campaign to one which focuses on achieving peace through meaningful political engagement, co-operation and progress," he added.
An MoD spokeswoman said: "The secretary of state is not referring to any scaling down of the operation in Afghanistan, he is making a restatement of the current policy. In 12 months time the Afghan National Security Forces will be better placed to take more responsibility for the security of their own country and therefore the UK mission will evolve."
