Brown signals no change on Iraq and Afghanistan

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown signalled Wednesday there would be no change of policy on Iraq and Afghanistan and no rush to withdraw troops. Brown warned it would be wrong to set a timetable for pulling forces out of Iraq, where Britain is waiting for a decision as to when it will hand over control in the southern Iraqi province of Basra.
On Afghanistan, he said he was sorry that British soldiers deployed in the restive country had lost their lives, but warned of the dangers of withdrawal. "It would be wrong to set a timetable at this stage," he said. Brown was speaking at the weekly prime minister's questions time, his first such performance in his new role, before deputies in Britain's lower parliamentary chamber, the House of Commons.
"What we have done is reduce the number of troops from 44,000 to 5,500," he said. "What we have also done is moved from combat to overwatch in three provinces of Iraq. What we await is a decision to move to overwatch in the fourth province of Basra. "But we have obligations that we have accepted, to both the United Nations and to the Iraqi government, and we are not going to break these obligations at this stage."
Asked if it was time to look again at the purpose of Britain's mission in the restive southern Helmand province of Afghanistan, given the progress made so far on reconstruction and drug eradication, Brown was defiant. "This house has got to remember that Afghanistan is the front line against the Taliban," he told MPs. "And if we allow Afghanistan to become a weaker country again, the Taliban will be back in a way that we saw before the events of September 11.
"I've got nothing but praise for our brave troops. I know that there have been casualties and I'm sorry that a number of people have lost their lives only in the last week. "There is immense international support both within Nato and outside Nato for continuing this fight. "The way it's going to be fought is on three levels," he explained.
"First of all to improve the security in Afghanistan; secondly to make sure that there is political reconciliation; and thirdly, we have got to give people a stake in the future of Afghanistan - and that is why we are discussing as a matter of urgency economic measures that can help the Afghan people." Britain has around 5,500 troops in Iraq, where 156 British troops have died since the invasion. In Afghanistan, Britain has around 7,000 soldiers, rising to 7,700 in the coming months.