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Afghanistan: UK Forces

My Lords, with the leave of the House, I shall now repeat a Statement made in another place by my honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence and Minister for Veterans. The Statement is as follows: ““Before I answer the honourable gentleman’s question, I am sure that the whole House will join me in offering our condolences to the families of Corporal Thorpe and Lance Corporal Hashmi, the two soldiers killed on Saturday in Helmand province along with their interpreter. I have no doubt either that I speak for the House in wishing a speedy recovery to the five soldiers injured in the same attack. Our thoughts and prayers are with them all. ““I should also explain first, Mr Speaker, that my right honourable friend the Secretary of State has been unable to return to the House in time from his constituency, since the time that we decided to take this Urgent Question. ““The losses of life that our forces have suffered over the past few weeks are a tragedy, but they do not mean that our mission in Afghanistan is somehow confused. The position of our Armed Forces in Afghanistan is clear. First and foremost, our troops are in Afghanistan to ensure that never again is it a safe haven for the likes of al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Quite simply, the risks are too great to us, our allies and the Afghan people for us to stand aside and allow the terrorists to return. That overriding aim was clear when my right honourable friend the Home Secretary announced our deployment to Helmand last January, and it is clear today. ““Our forces are our contribution to the expansion of the UN-authorised and NATO-led international security assistance force—ISAF. This is not just a British mission. Danish and Estonian troops are embedded into our forces in Helmand. Overall, 36 nations provide troops for ISAF. They, too, have had their casualties. A Romanian soldier was killed last month. Canadian and US troops have also died. ““That means that they are there to help foster the environment in which the Afghans, with the support of the wider international community, can develop sustainable governing institutions and spread the authority of central Government across the country. It means that they are there to help build up the Afghan security forces. They are there to help set the conditions for developing the Afghan economy and infrastructure. As a result of that, it means we also help put in place the sort of environment in which the Afghans, again with international support, can make an impact on the narcotics trade. ““Yes, our Armed Forces have been in action against the Taliban. That was only to be expected. That was why we sent an air-mobile battlegroup; it was why we sent artillery; and it was why we sent Apache attack helicopters. Let me be candid: we would not have deployed such a formidable package if we did not think that there was a real threat to the safety of our Armed Forces. It was not pulled together on a whim. We did not pick and choose. We sent what the top military advice in the country, the chiefs of staff, said that we should send. So, I want to make it absolutely clear and plain that there has never been a sense that our aims and objectives were unfocused. ““Of course, as with any operation, we keep our forces under review. The House will know that we regularly announce force changes for Iraq, as various formations are deployed in and out of that theatre. Afghanistan is no different. We are working through such a process now. The honourable gentleman will know that it is the intention of my right honourable friend the Secretary of State to make an announcement on the roulement of 16 Air Assault Brigade before the Recess, but he will not do so until he has received the advice of the chiefs of staff on the precise details of the roulement. That will form part of a much wider NATO process that will be under way in July. ““The House will understand that I cannot go into more detail now. Honourable and right honourable Members can be assured, however, that, despite press reports today, commanders have not asked for extra infantry or air cover. We do not go into this kind of thing in detail, for reasons that the House will understand, but I can go as far as to say that the latest requests to the chiefs of staff, which are part of the planned ongoing analysis, include requests for enablers and engineering equipment. I want to make it clear that these requests were expected from the outset and that, as the campaign continues, we expect more requests from theatre, and that if those do include ““combat”” elements, we will consider them seriously and immediately, as we always do. ““I must stress, however, that we are only at the start of a three-year operation. Our forces in Helmand only reached their full operating capability this weekend. There is still much to do. We all know that the democratically elected Afghan Government have had little sway in Helmand. It is inevitable that the earliest stages of such an operation will focus heavily on helping the Afghans to create security and stability. Only then can our wider aid and development programmes go forward unimpeded. They have already begun. Once fully under way, they will in turn reinforce security and stability as Helmand’s legitimate economy grows and the rule of law expands and curbs the influence of the Taliban and the drugs traffickers. ““I shall say one final thing: we are committed to the success of the wider international project to help to rebuild Afghanistan. We can best dothat by making a real contribution—political, developmental and military—to the stabilisation of Helmand. Our Armed Forces are doing a magnificent job in making that happen. They should continue to receive the full support of all of us in this House””. My Lords, that concludes the Statement.