LONDON — Prime Minister Gordon Brown defended Britain’s military presence in Afghanistan today — a major policy speech that came as a defense aide quit over the mission’s strategy and a soldier was court-martialed for refusing to return to the war-torn country.
NATO, meanwhile, used an air strike to blast two fuel tankers hijacked by the Taliban in northern Afghanistan, killing up to 90 people — dozens of whom were civilians.
Brown said insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan still presented major terrorist threats.
“Each time I have to ask myself if we are doing the right thing by being in Afghanistan. Each time I have to ask myself if we can justify sending our young men and women to fight for this cause,” Brown said in a keynote speech to the think tank Institute of Strategic Studies. “And my answer has always been yes.”
American and British opinion polls have shown waning support since the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan began in 2001. Some 730 U.S. troops have been killed, while 212 British soldiers have died. Brown said casualties had risen recently, due in part to the Taliban’s increased use of improvised explosive devices.
Brown’s speech came at an awkward time for his leadership after being criticized for failing to give clear answers on Afghanistan and other policy issues.
Defense aide Eric Joyce, a former army officer and Labour Party member, resigned Thursday on the eve of Brown’s speech. He criticized the government for failing to justify the war to voters and urged Brown to specify when the some 9,000 British troops would be withdrawn.
“I do not think the public will accept for much longer that our losses can be justified by simply referring to the risk of greater terrorism on our streets,” Joyce said in his resignation letter. “We also need to make it clear that our commitment in Afghanistan is high but time limited.”
Although Brown gave no details of an exit strategy, he said British troops needed to speed up the Afghan army’s training.
“In the spring, NATO announced that we would support the expansion of the Afghan army from 80,000 to 134,000 by November 2011,” Brown said.
He said that by November 2010 a third of British troops would be teaming up with Afghan forces and that the U.K. government would provide an extra 20 million pounds ($32 million) to help stabilize the volatile Helmand province, including police and judicial training.
Britain faces a general election next year, and Afghanistan is likely to be a divisive issue for both Brown’s Labour Party and the Conservatives, who are favored to win.
As more troops die, criticism has also turned to a perceived lack of equipment for soldiers. Earlier this summer, Mark Malloch-Brown, an outgoing British foreign minister, said that forces in Afghanistan needed more helicopters, directly contradicting Brown, who said the military had what it needed and spending per soldier had more than doubled since 2006.
Brown said today that by next spring, Britain will have doubled the number of helicopters for troops.
Spain said today it will consider sending more troops to Afghanistan. It currently has about 1,200 soldiers there.
Meanwhile, more than 1,000 British soldiers have gone absent without leave, or AWOL, since the Afghanistan conflict began in 2001.
Lance Corp. Joe Glenton appeared before a preliminary court-martial hearing today.
The 27-year-old went AWOL in 2007 instead of serving his second tour of duty with the Royal Logistic Corps in Afghanistan. He handed himself in after being absent for more than two years and traveling in Asia and Australia.
After his return, Glenton wrote to Brown, saying that the Afghanistan mission would fail.
“The war in Afghanistan is not reducing the terrorist risk. Far from improving Afghan lives it is bringing death and devastation to their country,” he wrote.
Charges of bringing the army into disrepute by criticizing the conflict were dropped against Glenton today.
“The army tried to gag me, but this means I can continue to speak out and it means other soldiers can voice their feelings and their opinions,” he said.
Glenton is to appear at another hearing on Nov. 2 for the desertion charge. If convicted, he faces up to two years in prison.
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