Downing Street Says » Afghanistan

Asked if there were any differences between the PM and Head of the Military on planned withdrawal dates and about expectations of President Obama’s speech, the PMS said, on the speech, we would not speculate in advance about the detail but it was widely expected that he would say something about US plans for troop withdrawal. He added that the last time the PM and President Obama discussed the issue was during the President’s visit to London last month and they agreed at that time to stay in close touch ahead of the US announcement. He further added that from the UK’s perspective, the PM has made clear that UK forces will not be in a combat role in Afghanistan by 2015. Any decision to withdraw UK troops was something clearly for us to make and we will make decisions on the conditions on the ground and on the basis of military advice.

Asked when the PM and President had last spoken, the PMS said the last conversation had taken place in Deauville but clearly between then and now there had many conversations between UK and US officials and national security advisors had been talking. The PM’s Special Representative on Afghanistan, Mark Sedwill, was in Washington very recently.

Asked if our assessment of the threat posed by Taliban leaders the same as that of the American’s, the PMS said we all made our own assessments and clearly we talked to the US and shared information but we would make our own assessment and we would make our assessment on troop withdrawals based on our understanding of the conditions on the ground and military advice.

Asked if he recognised the figure quoted by The Times that we were to pull 1000 troops out by next year, the PMS said he wasn’t going to speculate on what we might say.

Asked if the UK government knew what President Obama would announce later that day, the PMS said we had been having conversations with the US about the announcement but it wasn’t for him to make that announcement.

Asked if 2014/2015 was a conditions based’ deadline or something that would happen regardless of circumstances, the PMS said it was the deadline based on an agreed international strategy which would see the transition to Afghan national security forces by the end of 2014. Asked whether that contradicted Sir Peter Wall’s comments that it may turn into a conditions based deadline, the PMS responded that, as Sir Peter Wall had said himself, it was important to set those goals to make progress. He added that 2015 was very clearly a deadline and what happened between now and then and the rate of change would obviously be determined by what was happening on the ground.

Asked for a response to claims that President Obama’s timetable was being set by the 2012 US presidential elections, the PMS said the President would be setting out his position in more detail later that day and he wouldn’t want to pre-empt that.

Asked if he could rehearse the arguments for the 2015 deadline, the PMS said it was based on the agreed strategy.

Asked to explain what the Defence Secretary had meant when he said we might need significant security presence in Afghanistan after 2015, the PMS said the Defence Secretary had always been very clear that UK forces will longer be in a combat role at that stage but they may remain to train and mentor Afghan forces. Pressed that the Defence Secretary had meant providing security presence above and beyond training should conditions worsen, the PMS reiterated that UK forces would not remain in a combat role after 2015.

Asked if the 2015 deadline was unmovable, the PMS responded that it was a clear deadline.

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» Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Afghanistan

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