Claims over UK troops dismissed

[JohnCenaFan28]

Defence Secretary John Hutton dismissed claims that US military commanders are unhappy with the performance of the UK armed forces in Afghanistan.

A flurry of recent reports have suggested that US top brass has been left unimpressed by some aspects of the British effort in the country, with the counter-insurgency tactics singled out for criticism.

But Mr Hutton said in an interview with the Financial Times: "I do not think that is fair, nor do I think that reflects the real view in the Pentagon and elsewhere. There is a very high level of regard for the contribution that UK forces have made in Iraq and Afghanistan."

He said the UK - whose armed forces have suffered 145 fatalities in Afghanistan since 2001 - was open to criticism as long as it was "fair".

But Mr Hutton added: "Our reputation is very important to us. We will very strongly defend it. We will defend it by being open to criticism where it is fair. We will not change our tactics in Afghanistan on the basis of uncorroborated and unsourced gossip from people who don't have the courage to put their names to their remarks."

In another interview, Mr Hutton acknowledged a shortage of troops may have hampered progress in Afghanistan and said he would press the UK's European Nato allies to provide extra military resources.

He said Britain had not received a direct request from the US to provide additional soldiers and added that the UK was "playing above our weight" compared with other Nato members.

Mr Hutton told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "There has been a very lively debate in Europe over the last few years about this. Our view has always been very clear that Nato needs to do more, the European members of Nato need to do more. There needs to be a fairer burden-sharing of responsibilities, particularly in those really hard areas where what we need are combat forces."

Asked whether a shortage of troops had led to less progress being made, he said: "I think that's probably right. I think what we have got to do is understand the mission-critical status of our campaign in Afghanistan. The jihadists do pose a fundamental threat to our way of life. We have got to meet that challenge and we should meet it on a number of levels."

Mr Hutton said no decision had been made about deploying extra troops from the UK, although he was looking at whether the UK could do more. But, he added: "We are playing, certainly, above our weight in the campaign there, so my initial view is it is for others to make further contributions ahead of any extra contributions from the UK."

-Nova

[DUKE NUKEM]

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