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Blair welcomes Nato troops
29/11/2006 22:05 - (SA)
Riga - British Prime Minister Tony Blair flew home from a Nato summit on Wednesday pleased with better-than-expected pledges of support for his country's troops on the frontline in southern Afghanistan.
Apart from anything else, the result provides some rare welcome military news for a politically weakened Blair, battling to buff up a legacy heavily tarnished by the Iraq war before leaving office next year.
"We came away with more than we expected," a British official told AFP on the plane accompanying the British leader home from the two-day Nato gathering in the Latvian capital Riga. "We are satisfied with the result."
The satisfaction was visible on Blair's face when he emerged to brief reporters on the outcome of the summit, dominated by Afghanistan following the recent upsurge in deadly fighting with unexpectedly fierce Taliban insurgents. Stand-off
Britain provides about 5 500 of the 32 000-strong international security assistance force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, which Nato has led since 2003, and which this year took over from US troops in the volatile south of the country.
There had been fears ahead of the Riga summit of another all-too-familiar Nato stand-off between a US-led camp in the 26-nation alliance and the French and German-spearheaded grouping which so famously opposed the 2003 Iraq war.
In the run-up to the Iraq conflict, Nato was almost brought to its knees by the division.
Blair had good reason to be worried going in to the Riga summit: the British death toll in Afghanistan has surged since they spearheaded Nato's move into the south in the middle of the year, and more than 40 troops have now died.
- AFP
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