Troops have enough equipment: Brown

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Prime Minister Gordon Brown sought to quell public concern about rising military deaths in Afghanistan, saying British troops had all the equipment they needed to succeed in the war.
Army chiefs have said they need more troops and equipment, such as helicopters and armoured vehicles, to reduce casualties in the conflict, leaving the government open to accusations it has the wrong strategy and is putting lives at risk.
Brown’s woes were compounded yesterday when junior Foreign Office minister Mark Malloch-Brown said that British soldiers needed more helicopters in Afghanistan, although he denied he was criticising the government.
A Populous poll for the Times showed two-thirds of voters think British troops have been killed or wounded because of equipment issues. A similar proportion said Britain should withdraw its troops swiftly.
“I think you’ve got to look at what people are saying on the ground about this. I am satisfied that Operation Panther’s Claw has the resources it needs to be successful,” Brown told reporters.
Britain has raised the number of troops in Afghanistan to about 9150 from 8100 this year and launched an offensive in the south of the country to try to drive back the Taliban and improve security ahead of a presidential election on August 20.
It then plans to cut troop levels back to 8300, although more helicopters and other equipment are on the way. Army chiefs have suggested troop levels may need to remain higher for longer, until the Afghan army can take on more responsibility.
In an effort to show off the equipment troops are getting on the frontlines, the Ministry of Defence took journalists to a military camp yesterday, where a battalion set to deploy later this year displayed its helicopter and armoured vehicles.
“This is not a government that has starved its military of resources,” said Bill Rammell, the armed forces minister, dismissing the issue over helicopter shortages.
In terms of troops he said the government had made it “abundantly clear” it would keep the number under review, not ruling out the possibility of more being deployed in future.
Echoes of Blair
Well down in opinion polls with an election less than a year away, Brown has faced consistent criticism over his leadership this year, culminating in a failed attempt to oust him just as Labour suffered a big defeat in European elections in June.
It has not stopped there. His Labour government has taken the brunt of public anger over a damaging expenses scandal and now Afghanistan, where British deaths have recently soared above those suffered in the five-year invasion and occupation of Iraq.
Britain’s involvement in Iraq played a big part in turning public opinion away from Brown’s predecessor Tony Blair who stepped down in 2007. Further big losses in Afghanistan threaten to drive Brown’s already poor poll ratings even lower.
Britain has lost 187 soldiers in Afghanistan, eight years on from the US-led invasion, compared with 179 deaths in Iraq.
This month, 18 soldiers have been killed, including eight in one day. Most of them were victims of roadside bombs.
Gaps have emerged between what the government, facing budget constraints, thinks is sufficient and what military commanders say they want, a division that has played to public anger.
Brown said more helicopters would not have saved lives.
“For the operation we are doing at the moment we have the helicopters that we need,” Brown said.
“I have just spoken to a person on the ground who said, whether we like it or not, helicopters would not have made a difference to the loss of lives that we faced.”
But with less than a dozen heavy-lift helicopters for 9000 troops, Britain’s air-lift capability is far outstripped by US troops, who have about the same number of troops on the ground in southern Afghanistan but four times as many helicopters.
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