Europe

Home page

Europe

UK PM: Real Progress Made In Central Helmand This Year

14 June 2010 21:27 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said Monday "real progress" is being made in Afghanistan’s restive Helmand province, but warned the country must be prepared for further military casualties over the summer, APA reports quoting â€œThe Wall Street Journalâ€.
His comments come amid escalating violence in Afghanistan, with 23 foreign troops killed last week, and more than 250 killed this year.
Speaking in the lower House of Commons, Cameron said he has been advised that the threat from al Qaeda in both Afghanistan and Pakistan "has been reduced," with the terrorist network "under pressure on both sides of the [Afghanistan-Pakistan] border."
However, Cameron also said Afghanistan is "not yet strong enough to look after its own security," and warned of further U.K. military casualties over the summer "fighting season."
Cameron, who last week made his first visit to Afghanistan as prime minister, also reiterated his support for the U.S. military’s plan to combine political reform while some 150,000 U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops attempt to flush insurgents from Kandahar and Helmand.
"We want to transfer security responsibility to the Afghanis as soon as they are ready, but this must be done in relation to the facts on the ground and not to a pre-announced timetable," Cameron said.
"We cannot win by military means alone," he said. "We must work toward a political settlement."
Cameron also called for a greater understanding of Afghanistan’s tribal structures, and said the contracting policies of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force should be re-examined to ensure no money is finding its way to local militia or insurgents.