London, October 04: General David Richards, the new head of the British army, has said that the risks to the West would be ‘enormous’ if NATO fails to restore security in the country.
Speaking to the Sunday Telegraph, the British army commander warned of the “terrifying prospect” of defeat for international forces in Afghanistan, and pleaded for a troop surge in the country.
“If al-Qaeda and the Taliban believe they have defeated us; what next? Would they stop at Afghanistan?” he asked.
General Richards also backed the US Army General Stanley McChrystal, the top coalition commander in Afghanistan, who called for more troops in Afghanistan.
“If you put in more troops, we can achieve the objectives laid upon us more quickly and with less casualties,” he noted, urging the British public and the government to heed the risk of loosing the war.
Currently there are about 9,000 British soldiers in Afghanistan. A spokesperson for the British military, the second-largest contributor to the NATO force, said earlier that the UK contribution is expected to rise to over 10,000 following McChrystal’s troop request.
The Western countries have been under pressure to withdraw their troops from the war-ravaged country due the rising violence which has been claiming lives of coalition forces and inflicting much heavier casualty on Afghan civilians.
—–Agencies