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Army head calls for more troops | Army head calls for more troops |
(30 minutes later) | |
More troops are needed in the Afghan province of Helmand to provide the security its people need, the head of the British Army has told the BBC. | |
General Sir Richard Dannatt said it did not matter whether they were British, American or Afghan troops. | General Sir Richard Dannatt said it did not matter whether they were British, American or Afghan troops. |
His comments come after 15 UK soldiers were killed this month and the government has been criticised for a lack of equipment for UK forces. | His comments come after 15 UK soldiers were killed this month and the government has been criticised for a lack of equipment for UK forces. |
Gen Dannatt was on his last visit to Afghanistan before retiring this month. | Gen Dannatt was on his last visit to Afghanistan before retiring this month. |
He spoke the day after the bodies of eight British servicemen killed in Afghanistan - three of them teenagers - were repatriated to Britain. | |
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I have said before, we can have effect where we have boots on the ground. | He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I have said before, we can have effect where we have boots on the ground. |
'The bottom line' | 'The bottom line' |
"I don't mind whether the feet in those boots are British, American or Afghan, but we need more to have the persistent effect to give the people (of Helmand) confidence in us. | "I don't mind whether the feet in those boots are British, American or Afghan, but we need more to have the persistent effect to give the people (of Helmand) confidence in us. |
"That is the top line and the bottom line." | "That is the top line and the bottom line." |
Asked whether Britain's 9,100-strong force in Afghanistan has the equipment it needs, he said: "We are building our resources up in terms of the equipment we have got. | Asked whether Britain's 9,100-strong force in Afghanistan has the equipment it needs, he said: "We are building our resources up in terms of the equipment we have got. |
"It has probably not moved as fast as I would have liked it to have moved, but we are increasing the numbers. | "It has probably not moved as fast as I would have liked it to have moved, but we are increasing the numbers. |
"I would like to get more energy behind it if we possibly can." | "I would like to get more energy behind it if we possibly can." |
He was asked why he was being flown in an American helicopter, not a British one, and whether this was indicative of a lack of resources. | |
He said: "Self-evidently, if I move in an American helicopter it's because I haven't got a British helicopter." | |
"There is a pool and we share the assets, but we have got to put as much into the pool as we take out." | |
The government has been criticised for not providing soldiers with the equipment they need. | |
'Ticking time bomb' | |
Conservative leader David Cameron has already attacked the "scandal" of helicopter shortages and accused the government of the "dereliction of duty" in under-equipping the armed forces. | |
And Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg criticised British strategy in Afghanistan as "over-ambitious in aim and under-resourced in practice". | And Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg criticised British strategy in Afghanistan as "over-ambitious in aim and under-resourced in practice". |
But Prime Minister Gordon Brown has insisted Britain has the resources "to do the job", and said UK forces were the best equipped they had been in 40 years. | |
The Conservatives have also warned of a "ticking time bomb" of mental illness facing veterans of the war in Afghanistan. | |
The party said the intense fighting, combined with inadequate mental health support, would leave record numbers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. |