Qaeda threat from Pakistan, Afghanistan has reduced: UK

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Qaeda threat from Pakistan, Afghanistan has reduced: UK

* British PM says more British soldiers could die still
* Afghan insurgency needs political, not just military solution

LONDON: British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday said the threat from al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan had reduced, but progress could still be undone and warned more British troops would be killed in Afghanistan.

Reporting to the British parliament after his first trip to Afghanistan, Cameron said although combined efforts of international and Afghan forces and of Pakistani forces on the other side of the border had led to significant progress, “political surge” was needed in the country.

“Today I am advised that the threat from al Qaeda from Afghanistan and Pakistan has reduced,” he said.

“But I am also advised that if it were not for the current presence of United Kingdom (UK) and international forces, al Qaeda would return to Afghanistan and the threat to the UK would rise,” he said.

Cameron highlighted progress in boosting the Afghan National Army, telling legislators that 17,000 new recruits had joined the ranks in six months until March 2010, an increase of almost 20 percent.

However, he said the Afghan police were assessed to be ineffective or barely able to operate in six of the 13 provinces covered by US General Stanley McChrystal’s strategic plan for Afghanistan.

Cameron stressed that efforts to bolster Afghanistan’s own security forces were crucial to the international coalition’s overall strategy, along with military efforts to oust Taliban fighters from villages and towns.

Military action: He said there would be no solution to the Afghan conflict by military means alone.

“Insurgencies usually end with political settlements, not military victories, and that is why I have always said that we need a political surge to accompany the military one,” he said.

Getting individual Taliban fighters to put down their weapons was a first step, Cameron said, but long-term stability depended on a wider reconciliation process.

He said he had agreed on this with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who plans to reach out to insurgents to try to bring an end to the conflict, during his visit last week. Cameron said he would double the operational allowance British soldiers received while on active service in the country. reuters

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