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Less than 5% of UK troops involved in training Afghan forces

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, Nov 26, IRNA -- Less than five per cent of Britain’s 9,000 troops deployed in Afghanistan are currently being used for helping to train local forces in Helmand province even though transferring security has become the latest exit strategy.

In a written parliamentary reply published Thursday, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth revealed that there were only “approximately 440 UK troops directly involved in the training of Afghan National Security Forces in Helmand.”

But Ainsworth pledged that the proportion used for training “will increase significantly” over the coming year, as the UK re-configures its force structure in Helmand to fully support COMISAF's partnering plan.”

The commitment comes after Prime Minister Gordon Brown insisted that Britain “will not give up this strategy of mentoring” Afghan police and soldiers following the killing of five UK troops by an Afghan policeman in early November.

But former foreign minister responsible for Afghanistan, Kim Howells, who broke ranks with government policy, warned that the killings undermined Britain’s strategy, saying it was a “real blow because it strikes right at the heart” of building up local forces.

Prior to this, Ainsworth told the BBC last month that the UK was aiming to speed up the training of Afghan soldiers - from 2,000 a month to 4,000 - which would allow the Afghan army to reach its target strength by November 2010, ahead of schedule.

According to declassified documents, ISAF is hoping to accelerate growth of the Afghan National Army to 134,000, double its current strength, and continue to a new target of 240,000. The target strength of police is also being raised to 160,000.

In his inauguration speech last week at the start of his second term, Afghan President Hamid Karzai endorsed the new exit strategy being formulated saying that he hoped Afghan security forces to be running operations across the country within five years.

This is despite reports that the army is struggling just to maintain its current strength of only around 68,000 due to the number of desertions, which is said to be around a quarter every year.

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End News / IRNA / News Code 812566