Gordon Brown: UK is safer thanks to British troops in Afghanistan
15 Dec 08
During a visit to Afghanistan this weekend, Prime Minister Gordon Brown told British troops that because of their efforts in fighting the Taliban the people of Britain are safer.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown meets British troops at Camp Bastion during a recent visit to southern Afghanistan
[Picture: Sgt Andy Cole]
Gordon Brown visited British troops at Camp Bastion in Helmand province on Saturday 13 December 2008, the day after four Royal Marines were killed in two separate incidents in the province.
The Prime Minister paid tribute to the four men saying his thoughts were with their family and friends, adding:
"These men will never be forgotten for what they have achieved on behalf of our country."
Mr Brown also told troops at Camp Bastion that their efforts were helping combat the terrorist threat in Britain:
"We are safer in Britain," he said, "the people of Britain are safer because of what you do there, checking the Taliban, operating as the front line against them, making sure that they can't make advances, holding them in and holding Al Qaeda in as well."
During the surprise visit to Afghanistan Mr Brown also visited the town of Musa Qaleh in Helmand where he said he saw evidence of real progress:
"A year ago, Musa Qaleh was in the hands of the Taliban," Mr Brown said. "A year ago, action was taken to bring that area back under the control of a democracy. I've seen progress in a school that has been built and completed, healthcare facilities that are now available, people restored to law and order with the police services working in a far more efficient way and I can see in economic development as well how there can be enormous progress if in Afghanistan we match our military strategy with a strategy for training the Afghan military and police, building up the institutions of local government as well as central government and ensuring that we can do a great deal for economic progress."
"British people are safer today because we have our troops working with the Afghan people and other nations to act against terrorism and to defend the security of our people."
Prime Minister Gordon Brown
Later in the day Mr Brown visited Kabul and in a joint press conference with Afghanistan's President, Hamid Karzai, Mr Brown expressed the importance of British troops fighting in Afghanistan, saying:
"There is a chain of terror that comes from the Pakistani and Afghan mountains, right across Europe, and can end up very easily on the streets of Britain and British people are safer today because we have our troops working with the Afghan people and other nations to act against terrorism and to defend the security of our people."
Here follows a full transcript of Gordon Brown's speech during the press conference in Kabul on Saturday 13 December 2008:
Can I say first of all, it's a pleasure to be here in Kabul with the President and to renew my friendship with President Karzai and the friendship of the British people with the people of Afghanistan and I thank him for his introduction.
I too would like to refer to the death of four very brave soldiers who were lost carrying out their duties in a spirit of sacrifice and service and I've said already today that for the Taliban to engage in such cowardly behaviour, that means that a 13-year-old young boy is used to kill British troops, is something that will offend public opinion not just in Afghanistan and Britain, but right across the world and my thoughts are with the families of all of those who have suffered this grievous loss today and my thoughts are also with those British soldiers and families who have suffered loss over the whole of the period of the last year when carrying out their duties in Afghanistan and I'm mindful too that three Afghan police men or women every day lose their lives too and I send my condolences for that to the Afghan Government.
British troops from 24 Commando Engineer Regiment refurbished this well at a Lashkar Gah orphanage
[Picture: British Army]
I've come here to take stock of how our commanders on the ground and our Services see the strategy for the future. I've come here to offer the thanks of the British people to our troops as I've done when I've met them today and I've come here to show solidarity with the Afghan people and to remind us all that the reason why 41 countries are in Afghanistan in support of the democracy of Afghanistan is that we will not allow the Taliban or terrorists to defy the democratic will of the Afghan people and we will not allow the Taliban to use Afghanistan and so our troops here are a front line against the Taliban and, as I've said before, there is a chain of terror that comes from the Pakistani and Afghan mountains, right across Europe, and can end up very easily on the streets of Britain, and British people are safer today because we have our troops working with the Afghan people and other nations to act against terrorism and to defend the security of our people.
Today, I've also been able, at Musa Qaleh, to see evidence of real progress. A year ago, Musa Qaleh was in the hands of the Taliban. A year ago, action was taken to bring that area back under the control of a democracy. I've seen progress in a school that has been built and completed, healthcare facilities that are now available, people restored to law and order with the police services working in a far more efficient way and I can see in economic development as well how there can be enormous progress if, in Afghanistan, we match our military strategy with a strategy for training the Afghan military and police, building up the institutions of local government as well as central government and ensuring that we can do a great deal for economic progress like, as I saw in Helmand today, the wheat harvest being encouraged by us, being in a position to provide support for it.
I've talked to President Karzai about a number of issues that obviously are ones that we and other countries raise. He has reinforced his view that he will do everything to tackle corruption. We have offered to provide from Britain today a multi-agency task force that will cut across all the different agencies, including police, so that we can help the Afghan Government fight corruption, so there will be British officials made available in the fight against corruption, also in the fight against customs evasion and President Karzai has told me today of the arrests that have taken place of people who are alleged to have been engaged in corrupt practices and that that has happened and will continue to happen where there is corruption.
"We want there to be economic and social development in which people in Afghanistan have a stake in the future."
Prime Minister Gordon Brown
I've also said to President Karzai that it is in everybody's interest that the elections are free and fair during the course of the next year. We will provide $10m immediately to help the registration process for elections so that every voter has a chance to be registered and have their vote and we will do more to ensure that there is security in the elections. We also talked about the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and I think it's important to recognise that joint action between Pakistan and Afghanistan, joint action that we could support, and other countries should and could support, is essential if we're going to have greater peace and stability in the region and I will talk to President Zardari at some point about these matters as well.
But it is important we recognise the threat that comes from the instability on the border. We will continue to review what needs to be done in Afghanistan. We're determined to do everything that we can to support the democratic process. We want there to be economic and social development in which people in Afghanistan have a stake in the future and we want to do more to help the training of more than 70,000 with the Americans, Afghan forces and police and believe that that number can be stepped up substantially over the next few months. We will do what we can to support; obviously decisions about how we deploy troops are a matter for commanders on the ground. But I will make a statement to the House of Commons on Monday about that as well.