Gordon Brown made a surprise visit to Afghanistan yesterday amid a marked surge in attacks by Taliban forces which have made this week one of the bloodiest for Nato since it began its campaign in the country in 2003. The prime minister flew into Kabul after visiting British troops at Camp Bastion in Helmand province, where he said soldiers were preventing terrorism from hitting the streets of Britain, and likened them to Olympic heroes.The visit, the prime minister's second since he took office last year, came days after 10 French troops were killed in fierce fighting with the Taliban near Kabul. Three Polish troops were also killed this week, along with British Corporal Barry Dempsey from The Royal Highland Fusiliers. Yesterday it was confirmed a further three Canadian soldiers had been killed by a roadside bomb in Zhari district, west of the southern city of Kandahar.
Brown held a meeting with Afghan president Hamid Karzai, and announced Britain would be giving a further £64m in development assistance to the country. "We are utterly resolute in our determination to support this new democracy of Afghanistan," he said. "We won't relax our efforts to support and reconstruct Afghanistan because we understand that what happens in Afghanistan affects the rest of the world. We are determined to work with the government and coalition forces to defeat the forces of terrorism."
Earlier, Brown toured a field hospital at Camp Bastion, where he met six British soldiers who were receiving treatment after being hit by sniper fire.
The prime minister said he believed coalition forces were making "substantial advances" against the Taliban. "We have succeeded in winning back territory. The longer-term solution is that more power will be given to the Afghanistan people," he said.
Addressing around 300 troops who gathered in the 39C heat, he said: "You are the heroes of our country ... You are the frontline against the Taliban... What you are doing here prevents terrorism coming to the streets of Britain.
"This week we are celebrating the Olympics where we have had great success. People have been winning medals in areas where we have been breaking ground. But this week also I believe that our Olympic athletes and everybody else in our country will remember that you have showed exactly the same courage, professionalism and dedication. You make our country proud every day of the week, every week of the year."
During Brown's 90-minute visit, troops from 16 Air Assault Brigade, made up of 2nd and 3rd Battalion Parachute Regiment, 5th Battalion Royal Regiment Scotland and the Royal Irish Regiment, seemed in good humour. Capt Phil Hobbs of 7 Armoured Company said the prime minister's visit did have a positive effect on the troops. "It shows we do have support for what we are doing. It gives us a sense of pride."