Beckett: troop movements unlinked

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk_politics/6402857.stm

Version 0 of 1.

Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett has said there is no link between troop deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Mrs Beckett, visiting Afghanistan, said plans to boost troops by 1,400 were separate to the decision to withdraw 1,600 from Iraq.

She held talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and foreign minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta.

Hours earlier a suicide bomber attacked the country's main US base, as it hosted US Vice-President Dick Cheney.

At least nine people - including soldiers and civilians - were killed in the attack at Bagram air base, but Mr Cheney was unharmed.

Iraq security

Afghanistan will soon be the main UK theatre of operations overseas, while plans have been announced to reduce troop numbers in Iraq over the next few months.

Following the talks, Mrs Beckett said the Iraq decision had been made because security forces and police were more able to take control, and acknowledged continuing security problems in Afghanistan.

"I think our military would say to you that there's a slightly different approach than we had necessarily assumed from the Taleban and that, of course, is relevant to the way in which we deploy our own troops," she said.

Pakistan relations

She is meeting key figures from the Afghan government, Nato and the Nato-led security force Isaf.

Mrs Beckett's visit - her first to the country - comes after it was announced earlier this week that the UK will commit an additional 1,400 troops to Afghanistan, bringing the total British deployment to 7,700.

Most are to be deployed in southern Afghanistan where the Royal Marines are already fighting Taleban insurgents.

Both Mrs Beckett and Mr Cheney travelled to Kabul from Pakistan, which Washington believes should do more to prevent Taleban and al-Qaeda activity within its borders.

But Mrs Beckett would not be drawn on whether Pakistan was doing too little to stop the Taleban operating from its soil.

She said both Afghanistan and Pakistan, along with others such as the UK, must do more to tackle security problems.

And she dismissed reports that London had not been tough enough on Pakistan, straining UK relations with Afghanistan.

She said bilateral ties were excellent - a sentiment echoed by her Afghan counterpart.