KABUL- Prime Minister David Cameron, on an unannounced visit to Afghanistan, said today he was confident British troops could start leaving early next year when a gradual transition to Afghan forces begins.
Britain has the second-biggest foreign troop contingent in Afghanistan after the United States, and Cameron has said he wants British troops out of combat roles by 2015.
While he has said before he wants that process to begin next year, British commanders have since tried to play down the prospect of any major withdrawals in early 2011, saying it would depend on the readiness of Afghan forces to take over and other conditions on the ground.
“What I’ve seen on this visit gives me confidence that our plans for transition are achievable,” Cameron told a news conference in Kabul alongside Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Cameron said progress had been made in 2010 but added 2011 must be “a decisive year for the campaign” and noted NATO’s commitment, signed at a summit last month, for foreign forces to begin pulling out next year.
As Cameron and Karzai spoke, U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates, a frequent visitor to Afghanistan, arrived at the sprawling Bagram Air Base just north of the capital, Kabul.
Gates’s latest visit comes just as U.S. President Barack Obama reviews his Afghanistan war strategy, and a few days after the president made a trip himself to Afghanistan. (Reuters)
