Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

Britain Wants Endgame to War in Afghanistan: Cameron

Britain Wants Endgame to War in Afghanistan: Cameron

KABUL - BRITISH Prime Minister David Cameron has admitted that the British public and armed forces want an ''endgame'' to the war in Afghanistan. As he prepared for talks overnight at the White House with US President Barack Obama about withdrawing from the conflict, Mr Cameron conceded that coalition forces would not leave behind a ''perfect democracy'' and that Afghanistan faced ''huge development problems'' following the decade-long war. However, people wanted to know ''that our troops are going to come home'', he said.

Both leaders are under pressure to speed up the withdrawal, with the issue back in the spotlight following the alleged massacre of 16 Afghan civilians by a rogue US soldier.

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The crisis in Syria, which Mr Cameron described as ''frustrating'' yesterday, will also be discussed.

Mr Cameron, who spent his first few hours in the US watching a basketball game with Mr Obama in Dayton, Ohio, signaled that he accepted the British public needed to see an end to the country's military involvement.
''I think people want an endgame,'' he said. ''They want to know that our troops are going to come home, they have been there a very long time,'' he said.

''What I define as doing the job is leaving Afghanistan looking after its own security, not being a haven for terror, without the involvement of foreign troops. That should be our goal. So that the British public, our troops and the Afghan government, frankly, know there's an end to this.''

On Syria, Mr Cameron said: ''We're all frustrated by Syria. What's happening in Homs is completely appalling.

''I'm endlessly kicking the tyres and asking what else can be done. The shortest way of ending the violence is a transition where [President Bashar al-] Assad goes, rather than a revolution from the bottom.''

British officials say talks between Mr Obama and Mr Cameron will ''preview'' options for how and when the 68,000 troops in Afghanistan will exit after the end of this year.

A NATO summit in Chicago in May will be used to ''define the next phase of transition'', with British officials emphasizing the importance of financial contributions to avoid a repeat of the vacuum left by the withdrawal of Soviet forces in 1989. The government has repeatedly said British combat troops will leave Afghanistan by ''the end of 2014''. (Agencies)