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UK tories back military call for more troops to Afghanistan
The simmering dispute over whether to deploy more British troops to Afghanistan boiled over today as the Tories and a former head of the army demanded urgent and more decisive action.
The Tories have picked their side. It's going to be an interesting election.
Military commanders have been pressing ministers for months to agree to send between 1,000 and 2,000 extra British troops to Helmand province to join the 9,000 already there.

General Stanley McChrystal, the US and Nato commander in Afghanistan, is asking the alliance for up to 40,000 extra troops to add to more than 100,000 already committed. But Britain only has scope for a "relatively small" troop increase in Afghanistan, the defence secretary, Bob Ainsworth, said today.

However, the former head of the army, General Sir Mike Jackson, said Britain should act with greater urgency at what was a critical time for the campaign. "When so much blood has already been expended, if this is a decisive year we should act decisively," he said. "The secretary of state talked of the difficulties of sustaining such numbers ... but if this is a critical year, I think we can do more."

Jackson added: "The decision is not one of military capacity. It is a matter of the politics of the situation." Britain has the capacity to increase troop levels over a short period, he said.
Posted by: lotp 2009-09-29
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=279930