Tallinn, April 23: A key part of Britain’s exit strategy from Afghanistan – Gordon Brown’s pledge that Hamid Karzai’s government will start taking charge of security by the end of the year – is almost certain to go unfulfilled.
Nato and British military officials have urged that domestic political considerations should not be used to influence strategy in Afghanistan at a crucial time in the conflict and that the transfer of security should begin only when conditions are judged to be right.
However, with the most pressing foreign policy issue in the impending elections being the Afghanistan conflict, and given the losses being incurred by British troops there, Mr Brown has declared that UK forces could start to withdraw, with areas being handed over to the Afghans.
–Agencies