JULY/AUGUST 2011
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British PM details new troop withdrawal from Afghanistan
LONDON - David Cameron announced further details of British troop withdrawals from Afghanistan on July 6.
In a statement to the Commons following a two-day visit to Kabul and Helmand, the prime minister reiterated his commitment to end the UK's combat role in the conflict by 2015.
He said the UK will withdraw another 500 troops from Afghanistan next year, as armed forces begin to transfer combat duties to the Afghan security forces.
The decision comes shortly after President Obama said he intended to withdraw 33,000 U.S. troops from the country by the end of next autumn.
This announcement was a controversial move that went against the advice of commanders on the ground.
Cameron had also been under pressure to consider a more radical drawdown from the areas in Helmand province where the British are currently stationed, but he has taken a more cautious approach than the White House.
Following advice from the National
Security Council and military officials, who have warned that the situation remains fragile, Downing Street has cho sen to keep troop numbers high until the end of 2012.
Explaining to MPs why 500 extra soldiers could be withdrawn next year, Cameron told MPs that Afghanistan was entering a "new phase" and that "the country needs to know that there is an end point.. .this is right for the UK and it's right for Afghanistan too."
The prime minister's visit to Afghanistan coincided with the death of another UK soldier, named on the night of June 5 as Highlander Scott McLaren of 4th Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland.
The 20-year-old had disappeared from a NATO checkpoint in central Helmand, sparking a massive 17-hour search.
Cameron acknowledged the "high price" the UK had paid in seeking to help stabilise Afghanistan and prevent it reverting to a haven for terrorists.
At a press conference in Kabul, the prime minister restated his determination to have UK forces off the front line within four years.
"I have always been clear that the end of 2014 is a deadline. We will not be here in large numbers or in a combat
HIGHLANDER Scott McLaren from D Company, The Highlanders, 4th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland, was killed in Afghanistan on June 4, 2011. Born on January 31, 1991, McLaren was from Edinburgh.
role," he said.
"If what we are doing was not working by then I think you would have some serious questions to ask me."
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