Obama's delay over Afghanistan is hitting UK support for the war
President Obama's delay in authorising a US troop surge in Afghanistan had contributed to falling public support in Britain for the mission, Bob Ainsworth said yesterday.
The Defence Secretary said that as well as the "period of hiatus" in Washington, the deaths of British troops and the disputed Afghan elections had also played a part.
Mr Obama is preparing to announce his decision on troop numbers next week, it emerged yesterday, ending months of wrangling.
Mr Ainsworth's comments came as the British Ambassador to Kabul entered the bitter debate in the Obama Administration by openly siding with General Stanley McChrystal's request to send thousands more troops.
Mark Sedwill said yesterday that he agreed with the American commander's report in September, which called for another 40,000 US troops to be sent to Afghanistan.
"I have been through the McChrystal analysis as well as the report quite carefully, in order to do my job and advise our Government. I think it is a very compelling analysis," he told The Times at his office in the heavily defended British embassy in Kabul.
"He is talking about a total of 140,000 Isaf troops, both to secure and protect the population in the short term and create a situation where we build up the Afghan forces, can hand over to them and they take the lead. I think that is right," he said.
The remarks put the British envoy in the McChrystal camp in Washington, which has been engaged in a battle against critics of a troop surge, including Vice-President Joe Biden and even Karl Eikenberry, Mr Sedwill's American counterpart in Kabul. The British Government is broadly in favour of an Afghan surge as well as other aspects of the McChrystal plan, although Mr Sedwill's remarks are the most overt endorsement yet.
On Monday night President Obama held his ninth Afghan review session with his top foreign policy team and yesterday he said that it was his "intention to finish the job". "We are going to dismantle and degrade their capabilities and ultimately dismantle and destroy their networks," he added. Military officers said he would announce the deployment of at least 25,000 more troops.
Britain's support for the troop surge — as well as a commitment to send 500 more soldiers to Afghanistan — comes at a time when other Nato allies are voicing doubts.
Mr Sedwill said that he hoped a US decision to send more troops along with a British commitment would encourage other Nato allies to commit more forces. He stressed, though, that more soldiers would not solve Afghanistan's problems — but would provide the security to allow economic development and political reconciliation.
"That is why the other element of the McChrystal review is important, which is setting a perspective over the next three to five years when we expect the Afghans to take the lead.
"We are demonstrating clearly to them that we are not intending to be an occupying force . . . We are not like every other foreign intervention which they have seen," he said.