GORDON Brown today defended Britain's military mission in Afghanistan, saying that the 9,000-strong UK force forms our first line of defence against terror attacks at home.
Gordon Brown at the Royal College of Defence Studies today
The Prime Minister also set out five tough tests for newly re-elected Afghan president Hamid Karzai if he is to retain the support of the international community.
But he warned Mr Karzai's administration will have "forfeited its right to international support" if it fails to root out corruption and improve the governance of the country.
The warning came in a hastily-arranged speech at the end of a bloody week for the British force in Afghanistan, with seven deaths, including the murder of five servicemen by a "rogue" Afghan police officer they were training.
Speaking to an audience of high-ranking military officers in London, Mr Brown said Afghanistan's government has become "a byword for corruption". And he acknowledged flaws in the disputed election which led to the president winning a second term in office earlier this month.
"I am not prepared to put the lives of British men and women in harm's way for a government that does not stand up against corruption," he said.
His spokesman said this should not be seen as a threat to pull Britain's force out if Mr Karzai fails to reform his government, telling reporters in Westminster: "We have no intention of withdrawing troops from Afghanistan until we have completed our campaign."
The spokesman said Mr Brown was "committed to succeeding" and was sending a message to the international community that "we will succeed or fail together – and we will succeed".
In three phone conversations since his re-election – the most recent yesterday morning – Mr Karzai accepted the need for action on five key areas: security, governance, reconciliation, economic development and engagement with its neighbours, said the spokesman.
It is expected that the Afghan president will set out his plans to meet these goals in his inauguration speech on November 19, and Mr Brown made clear that "international support depends on the scale of his ambition and the degree of his achievement".
"If, with our help, the new government of Afghanistan meets these five tests, it will have fulfilled an essential contract with its own people. And it will have earned the continuing support of the international community, despite the continuing sacrifice," said the Prime Minister.
"If the government fails to meet these five tests, it will have not only failed its own people, it will have forfeited its right to international support."
Mr Brown called for the appointment of an international "anti-corruption czar" to advise the Kabul administration, along with the establishment of an anti-corruption commission and special crimes tribunal.
And he warned Mr Karzai: "Cronies and warlords should have no place in the future of Afghanistan."
Paying tribute ahead of Remembrance Day to the 93 British troops who have died in Afghanistan this year, the Prime Minister said: "These men are our heroes today."
He acknowledged that Britain's strategy was not "without danger or risk".
But he said the key to bringing British troops home from Afghanistan was building up the home-grown armed forces and police to a state where they could deliver security themselves.
He dismissed suggestions from former Foreign Office minister Kim Howells that the money and effort expended on the military effort in Afghanistan would be better spent on anti-terror measures in the UK.
"When the main terrorist threat facing Britain emanates from Afghanistan and Pakistan; and when, although the sustained pressure in Pakistan, combined with military action in Afghanistan, is having a suppressive effect on al Qaida, we know that they continue to train and plot attacks on Britain from the region ... this mission must not fail," he said.
"It is not easy. The choices are not simple. There is no strategy that is without danger and risk.
"But that is the responsibility of leadership – of government, and of our armed forces. To do what is necessary, however difficult, to keep the British people safe. We cannot, must not and will not walk away."
He insisted Britain would continue to train Afghan forces, despite this week's deaths.
"We will not give up this strategy of mentoring," said Mr Brown. "Because it is what distinguishes a liberating army from an army of occupation.
"Not an army in opposition to local Afghan people but an army supporting local Afghan people."
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg described the speech as "a woefully belated attempt to win over public support for a war that has cost so many lives".
"The Prime Minister has finally acknowledged that the British people will always back our brave British troops in the dangerous work they do, but they will not unconditionally support soldiers being sent to fight and die for a corrupt and illegitimate government in Kabul," said Mr Clegg.
"The brutal truth is that we will not succeed in Afghanistan without a new and workable international plan covering everything from our military tactics to political reconciliation."
Meanwhile, a former armed forces chief told the House of Lords that the Government had failed to provide adequate numbers of helicopters to prevent the loss of British lives in Afghanistan.
Former chief of defence staff Lord Guthrie said: "There is a clear need for more helicopters... I have no doubt whatsoever that with additional helicopters, some of these lives which have been lost would have been saved."
