Afstan: British government refuses serious force increase

Apparently against the advice of senior officers and the defence secretary (money may be an important factor):

Military loses battle over Afghanistan troop boost

British soldiers waiting to board a Chinook helicopter in Musa Qala. Military chiefs wanted long-term reinforcements in Helmand but will get only a temporary deployment of 700 troops

[Prime Minister] Gordon Brown has rejected the advice of both his Defence Secretary and military chiefs by refusing to send 2,000 more troops to Afghanistan to boost the permanent British presence in Helmand province to more than 10,000.

Despite pleas from commanders in southern Afghanistan for more “boots on the ground” to help to hold territory won against the Taleban, the Prime Minister has sided with the Treasury and has ruled that the total force must remain at the present level of 8,300.

The decision, after months of wrangling between the Ministry of Defence, Downing Street and the Treasury, has shocked and gravely disappointed military chiefs. John Hutton, the Defence Secretary, also put his full weight behind their recommendation to send long-term reinforcements.

Mr Brown confirmed that the only troop boost he had approved was the temporary deployment of a battalion of 700 soldiers for a four-month period leading up to and beyond the presidential elections on August 20.

“Apparently the Prime Minister thinks that with the planned uplift of 17,000 American combat troops going to Afghanistan, he is able to take the decision to keep Britain’s permanent force to 8,300,” officials said.

The decision will also bitterly disappoint the Americans, who had been led to believe that a mini-surge of British troops was due to be announced. President Obama had spoken to Mr Brown about Britain sending more troops, and Nato military chiefs had fully expected the British Government to respond positively.

Mr Brown’s change of mind, under Treasury pressure, will be a bitter blow for General Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the Army, who revealed in an interview with The Times in March that he had earmarked up to 2,000 troops for Afghanistan and that he was awaiting a political decision. The troops, all from 12th Mechanised Brigade, have been training on Salisbury Plain and are now ready for an overseas operation.

The Prime Minister was briefed on the troop situation on Monday when he flew to Afghanistan where he met Brigadier Tim Radford, commander of the newly arrived 19 Light Brigade, at his headquarters in Lashkar Gah.

In key places such as Musa Qala in the north, the brigade has a battle group of just 700 soldiers, only a proportion of whom are combat infantry-men capable of taking on the Taleban...

In Garmsir, in southern Helmand, the same lack of troop resources has limited the options for taking the fight to the Taleban. The Americans are going to change all that when they send thousands of the US surge troops to fight the Taleban down to the border with Pakistan [The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit took and held the Garmsir region when they were in Helmand last year--more towards end of this post].

Camp Bastion, the main British base in central Helmand, is already accommodating 3,000 US Marines, and 7,000 more [some 2,000 and 8,000 respectively in fact, I think] are due to arrive by the end of May [emphasis added], dwarfing the British presence in a province that is supposed to be Britain’s area of responsibility...[Sound familiar? More here and here]