Warning on Afghanistan casualties

There will be "many more" casualties in Afghanistan in 2010 in what will be a "very challenging year" for British soldiers
12 April 2012

There will be "many more" casualties in Afghanistan in 2010 in what will be a "very challenging year" for British soldiers, a senior British diplomat said.

Nato's civilian representative in the country, Mark Sedwill, warned of an "awful lot of violence" as the coalition's military and political strategy is beefed up.

And he said soldiers would be needed in a war-fighting role for up to five more years and could be training Afghan forces for "a decade or more".

Mr Sedwill, formerly Britain's ambassador in Kabul, has been brought in to his new role to improve co-ordination between the political and military aspects of the coalition effort.

He was speaking after last week's London conference on Afghanistan agreed a process for giving the Afghan government responsibility for security.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown set a deadline of the middle of next year for "turning the tide" against the Taliban - suggesting that could be when some British troops return home.

But in an interview with the BBC Mr Sedwill said: "My own view on this... is that we will probably still have troops in these front-line roles for three years, maybe three to five years.

"We will have many foreign troops there in training and supporting probably for a decade or more. Of course we will have development aid... probably for 20, 30, 40 years, even."

Asked on the Andrew Marr Show about the security challenges he said: "This year will be another very challenging year, I am sure there will be many more casualties, there will be an awful lot of violence.

"That is, I am afraid, the nature of the conflict."

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