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Blair pledge on Afghanistan fight | Blair pledge on Afghanistan fight |
(20 minutes later) | |
Prime Minister Tony Blair has pledged to "see the job through" in Afghanistan in spite of resurgent Taleban fighters. | |
He acknowledged the "tough challenges" that President Hamid Karzai faced, but said much progress had been made. | |
"Yet we still have this attempt by the enemies of progress in Afghanistan to try and push the whole country back," he said. | "Yet we still have this attempt by the enemies of progress in Afghanistan to try and push the whole country back," he said. |
Following talks with President Karzai, Mr Blair said: "We must never allow it to go back." | |
Britain is to increase its military presence in southern Afghanistan by about 800 troops by late summer. | |
'Tough job' | |
Mr Blair said that since 2001 much progress had been made in Afghanistan, including girls being back in school and a growing economy. | |
And he said that although British troops faced a "tough and difficult job", he was "determined to do everything we can to make sure that the mission is successful in the south of Afghanistan". | |
Having better stability and peace in the last five months is giving us hope for a more successful tomorrow President Hamid Karzai | |
Mr Karzai said he had full confidence in what Britain was doing to help Afghanistan. | |
Narcotics and the fight against terrorism were the main challenges Afghanistan faced, he said. | |
He said there were signs that the Taleban could be contained, and with help from their neighbours, the fight could be won. | |
And while he was not relaxed about the threat posed by the Taleban, he said that there had been "very few" incidents of terrorism in urban areas since September. | |
"Having better stability and peace in the last five months is giving us hope for a more successful tomorrow," he said. |
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