4,000 British troops to be sent to troubled Afghan province

[ECH1969]

THOUSANDS of British combat troops are expected to be sent to one of the most dangerous parts of Afghanistan. John Reid, the Defence Secretary, is said to be ready to announce that 4,000 soldiers from 16 Air Assault Brigade, built around the 3rd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, will be sent to the Helmand province to help with its reconstruction.

Ministers have said that the rise in suicide bombings in Afghanistan is of great concern. Al-Qaeda forces have killed 100 US soldiers and thousands of civilians, and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s al-Qaeda group in Iraq is believed to have set up a new insurgency unit in southern Afghanistan.

The escalation in suicide attacks has raised alarm within Nato, which believes that the Taleban and its supporters are targeting southern Afghanistan because of the alliance’s plan to move into the region by spring, increasing the number of international troops in the country from 10,000 to 16,000.

http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=132291

[Voice1]

1. What happened to "liberated Afghanistan"?

I take it that was just a myth.

[Barrett808]

2. Welcome to DU, Voice!

:hi:

[Voice1]

3. Thanks Barrett eom

[rodeodance]

4. as both Condi and Laura have said-Agan is the model for Iraq.

[daleo]

5. I expect Stephen Harper will want to impress Bush and Blair

He will want to at least double or triple the 1200 Canadian contingent there. Just a hunch on my part.

[Englander]

6. Steve Bell cartoon;

(The bloke with the whistle, & the goat, is Defence Secretary John Reid)



http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoons/0,,337484,00.html

[Rhiannon12866]

7. I just received the following story on this from "The Guardian."

I get alerts from them and when this popped up, I did a double-take, and had to read it over twice. I just assumed that they meant Iraq...:wow:

UK to deploy 4,150 extra troops to Afghanistan

http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,1695548,00.html

[Barrett808]

8. Oh, yes. "Complete strategic failure" was the outlook last summer

The UK has been desperate to "redeploy" from Iraq to Afghanistan to shore up the crumbling occupation there.

[Rhiannon12866]

12. The unfortunate thing was that badly needed resources were moved from

Afghanistan to Iraq, so the mission was never completed there. Just ask former Senator Bob Graham. *sigh* So we now have failures on both fronts, and we had a very real reason to be in Afghanistan. BTW, I heard yesterday, on the news, that Prince Harry could be sent to Iraq. Talk about compounding mistakes...:crazy:

[coalition_unwilling]

9. 4,000 British troops to become targets

I'm surprised the British people are putting up with this. After all, about 100 years ago, the British army was thoroughly thrashed the last time it tried to occupy Afghanistan, if memory serves.

[phoebe]

10. can you say opium? Helmland is largest grower of opium in Afghanistan

..heard that 75% of Afghanistan's money is made growing opium and that if the crop was destroyed their economy would be devastated.

[rainbow4321]

11. Canada deploys more soldiers in Afghanistan

http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=131987

They are the first batch of more than 1,000 who will be deployed to the Asian country by next month. They will join the U.S.-led campaign against militants in the Kandahar region.

Canada has at present about 650 troops in Afghanistan and plans to increase that number to about 2,200 by February.

The latest deployment came only one week after a Canadian convoy was hit by a suicide bomb car, killing a top diplomat and wounding five soldiers, three of them seriously. The total death of Canadians in Afghanistan since 2002 has risen to nine.

Canada took part in the U.S.-led war against the Taliban regime in 2001. After that, it sent soldiers to take part in the international security forces in Afghanistan.