US Opens Fire on Brown's 'War Fatigue' - Sarah Baxter and Nicola Smith, The Sunday Times
As the United States prepares for a troop "surge" in Afghanistan in the new year, Robert Gates, the defence secretary, and senior commanders are concerned that the British government lacks the "political will" for the fight.
General John Craddock, the Nato commander, said last week that Britain must put more troops into Helmand province to defeat the Taliban insurgency.
In an interview with The Sunday Times at Nato's supreme headquarters in Mons, Belgium, he said Gordon Brown's announcement last Monday that more troops would bolster Britain's 8,100-strong force in Afghanistan by March was not enough. Although planning is under way to send up to 3,000 extra troops to Afghanistan next summer if required, Brown committed only 300 in his Commons statement.
"I don't think 300 more, if you are talking about Helmand province, will do the trick. We've got to hold down there until we've got some Afghan street forces who can take over," Craddock said.
More at The Sunday Times.