UK ready to send more troops to Afghanistan

MORE British troops are to be deployed in Afghanistan under plans being considered by defence chiefs.

A training mission will also be extended by at least a year in an admission that the country is descending into further chaos

At a Nato summit in Warsaw next month David Cameron is expected to say that Britain’s 450-strong training mission will extend its stay into 2017, along with US military personnel.

And defence officials are looking at increasing security in the capital Kabul, where the mission is based, with an extra deployment of more than 100 soldiers to provide protection.

An MoD source said Britain was ‘discussing options’ with other nations but, with the Taliban having gained significant ground in recent months and thousands of Islamic State fighters now spreading across the country, there are suggestions that the UK pulled out of Afghanistan too soon.

British soldiers were withdrawn in December 2014 – a year after the Prime Minister said they could come home knowing it was ‘mission accomplished’.

But the families of British personnel who were killed in the conflict said further deployments made them question why their children died. Lucy Aldridge, whose 18-year-old son William was the youngest UK soldier to die in Afghanistan, said: ‘Those who have lost loved ones have to face the fact we have done so for nothing.

‘We do question whether it was worth it. I’m not sure it was. It was a mistake to send them and so what do they hope to achieve by sending more?’

Ian Sadler, whose son Jack was killed near Sangin in 2007, said: ‘David Cameron declared the deployment to Afghanistan over. Obviously the war isn’t over; “mission creep” comes to mind.’

A MoD spokesman said: ‘While we routinely look at the support we and other Nato partners give Afghanistan, no decisions have been made.’