Call For British Troop Withdrawal As Five Soldiers Shot Dead By Afghan Cop

(RTTNews) - In one of the most unfortunate incidents in the eight-year-old joint fight by domestic and foreign forces against terrorism in Afghanistan, five British soldiers were shot to death in the southern province of Helmand Tuesday by an Afghan policeman.

The incident coincides with a call from former British Foreign Office minister Kim Howells for the phased withdrawal of its troops from Helmand.

Britain's Defense Ministry and spokesman for the provincial governor of Helmand said Wednesday that the attack Tuesday afternoon was carried out by a member of the national police under training, who opened fire at a police checkpoint in Shina Klay area of Nad-e-Ali district before fleeing.

Three of the soldiers were from the Grenadier Guards and two from the Royal Military Police. Several other troops as well as Afghan police commander for the Gulbuddin checkpoint were injured in the indiscriminate firing.

While some reports say it appears he could have been involved in a dispute with his commander, BBC reported that tribal sources have pointed to a link with the Taliban.

Lieutenant Colonel Wakefield, spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said the targeted soldiers had been mentoring and living with a number of Afghan police officers in what was described as a 'secure compound' at a national police checkpoint for the past two weeks.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) said in a statement that Afghan authorities and Britain's Royal Military Police are investigating the incident.

It is the highest number of British troop casualties in a single incident of "combat" in the US-led fight against terrorism in Afghanistan since 2001.

Serving as part of ISAF, Britain has the second largest foreign military contingent in Afghanistan. Helmand still remains a Taliban stronghold, where most of the over 8,300 British soldiers fight the militants as 'Task Force Helmand.'

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown condoled the "death of five brave soldiers", describing it as "a terrible loss."

Brown insisted he remained committed to ensuring his country's troops had "the best possible support and equipment.

Speaking to reporters in Kabul, Abdullah Abdullah, who conceded victory to President Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan's recent fraud-marred election, criticized the Karzai administration, saying that even after eight years of international forces working to stabilize the nation, more military assistance was needed.

Launched by the US-led international coalition just weeks after the horrific al Qaeda terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001 to oust the Taliban from Afghanistan, the war in that south-west Asian country continues to be a grave challenge for the Pentagon and the British government.

2009 has been the most challenging year for British and American forces in Afghanistan. A total of 92 British troops have been killed so far this year as against the 2008 toll of 51.

More than 450 foreign soldiers have died in Afghanistan this year, including 270 Americans, underlining reports that overall, Afghanistan is becoming more lethal for U.S., British soldiers than Iraq.

Writing in the Guardian, Howells, who had ministerial responsibility for Afghanistan until 2008, said: "It would be better to bring home the great majority of our fighting men and women and concentrate, instead, on using the money saved to secure our own borders, gather intelligence on terrorist activities inside Britain." He is is now serving as Gordon Brown's intelligence and security watchdog.

President Barrack Obama, dithering on a request for 40,000 more US troops for Afghanistan, said recently that he will not take a hasty decision on the sensitive issue.

Most European allies, however, are unwilling to raise their own troop levels, putting the future NATO mission in the country at risk.

Even the proposed additional US troops, Howell argues, will not guarantee that the Taliban are contained. "Recent attacks in Kabul and other centers suggest that the present balance of territorial control is at best likely to remain, or more likely to shift in favor of the Taliban."

Securing the remote mountainous borders between Afghanistan and Pakistan where the Taliban and al Qaeda thrive is impossible, he contends.

Howells suggests that because al Qaeda can readily change the locations of its bases and modify its attack plans, it makes sense for Britain to prioritize counter-terrorism spending by focusing on defending the homeland.

He concedes a withdrawal would have momentous consequences for British relations with NATO, and especially the US.

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