Prime Minister visits Afghanistan
PM: "I'm confident we can bring British troops home as I promised by the end of 2014"
Prime Minister David Cameron today arrived in Helmand Province for a tour of Camp Bastion, the UK鈥檚 largest Afghan base. Mr Cameron visited frontline troops from the 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment at the Shawqat base in Nad-e-Ali and saw a provincial reconstruction team in Lashkar Gah.
Asked about major reductions in troop numbers, the Prime Minister said it had been a difficult decision to make but insisted the coalition needed a defence budget which made sense.
Discussing the withdrawal of British troops, Mr Cameron said:
鈥淲hat I will commit to is that we will do this in a sensible, ordered, practical way - 9,500 to 9,000 this year. As Afghan troops take a bigger role we will be able to reduce troop numbers further next year.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to see some cliff edge. I鈥檓 confident we are going to have a staged reduction and deliver a safe and secure situation.鈥�
He added:
鈥淚鈥檓 very pleased to be here because I want to thank our Armed Forces for all the incredible work that they do.鈥�