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Blair visits Afghanistan
20/11/2006 10:30 - (SA)
Islamabad - British Prime Minister Tony
Blair flew to Afghanistan on Monday, where Britain's 5 000 troops are taking higher casualties than in Iraq on the frontline of a rising insurgency by a revitalised Taliban.
British officials would not give details of the
long-planned trip because of security fears. Fighting in
Afghanistan this year is the worst since US and British-led
forces ousted the Taliban's hardline government exactly five
years ago.
With the rise in fighting and a major redeployment to the
Taliban's southern heartland, British casualty rates in
Afghanistan are now much higher than in Iraq.
Some British military officials say their soldiers are six
times more likely to die in Afghanistan's Helmand province than
in Iraq.
Diplomatic and offical sources in Afghanistan said Blair
would visit British troops at their main base in Helmand, a
Taliban hotspot and the main opium growing area of the world's
largest supplier.
He is then due to meet President Hamid Karzai in Kabul at
the presidential palace before flying back to Pakistan, they
said.
Iraq policy
Blair flew in from Pakistan, where he met President Pervez
Musharraf to discuss how to beat the Taliban, pool
counter-terrorist intelligence and quell militancy in Pakistani
religious schools. The Taliban's resurgence comes amid mounting
debate over Western policy in Iraq.
On Friday, Blair agreed with an Al-Jazeera television
interviewer's contention that the Western intervention in Iraq
had been a disaster - although he went on to point the finger
at outside forces fomenting sectarian violence and his office
said he had not meant to endorse the questioner's view.
Senior Afghan officials also privately criticise Britain,
the United States and other allies for not putting more
pressure on Pakistan to stop the Taliban and other militants
sheltering and training in its lawless borderlands.
Pakistan says it is doing everything it can to stop the
militants, as it does in the face of similar Indian criticism
over Kashmiri separatists operating from Pakistani territory.
"(The) Taliban problem is an Afghan problem. It is in the
southeast region of Afghanistan, being supported by elements
from this side," Musharraf told a news conference with Blair.
"We need to put our house in order, here on our side, and
make sure that this support is cut off, but the main battle is
in Afghanistan."
Afghan intelligence officials say they have clear evidence
of the Pakistani government continuing to support the Taliban,
but have been ignored.
- Reuters
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