We can't maintain level of mily operations in Afghanistan: British army chief

LONDON - Britain's armed forces cannot maintain their level of operations in Afghanistan and Iraq indefinitely, the head of the armed forces said Sunday.

And the international commitment in Afghanistan would have to last "decades" if it was to be successful, he said.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, the chief of the defence staff, confirmed British troop numbers in Basra, southern Iraq, would come down during 2009.

Britain currently has around 7,800 soldiers based in Afghanistan, a figure soon set to rise to 8,000. It has another 4,000 in Iraq.

"We are structured and resourced for a certain level of commitment on an enduring basis," Stirrup told BBC television regarding the dual commitment.

"And we're doing more than that at the moment. It doesn't mean that we can't do what we're doing. But it means we can't keep on doing it indefinitely. "So we do need to get ourselves back down to a more sustainable operational tempo as soon as we can.

"And subject to delivering success on current operations, that has been and remains my top priority."

Troop numbers in Afghanistan would come down "during the course of next year," Stirrup said.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown had previously announced that they would be cut to 2,500 this year, depending on conditions on the ground.

British troops have been engaged in some of the fiercest fighting in Afghanistan against the insurgency waged by the Taliban.

A total of 109 British troops have died in Afghanistan since operations began in late 2001.

"The international community, I think, if the enterprise is to be successful, will need to be engaged for decades," Stirrup said.

"What I am talking about is across the full spectrum of effect in terms of reconstruction, governance, finance and the economy and so on.

"In terms of the military, we will be there for a few years. But the key for us is to develop the Afghan indigenous forces - the Afghan National Army - to the stage where they can take on the lead for these responsibilities themselves."

Meanwhile, nearly a week after a suicide car bomb tore a hole into his family, Khan Muhammad is distraught and disillusioned with the government he voted for at Afghanistan's first presidential election in 2005. The retired colonel lost a daughter, three grandchildren and a daughter-in-law in the blast at the Indian embassy in Kabul.

They were among more than 100 civilians killed in five days in Afghanistan including the bombing and two air strikes by US-led troops, according to Afghan officials. "In the election I not only voted but I encouraged many Afghans to do so," Khan told AFP at the weekend.

Days earlier, two US-led coalition airstrikes against militants in mountains near the border with Pakistan together killed 64 civilians, according to official investigations ordered by President Hamid Karzai.

The killings are alienating people from their government, said Muhammad Asif Shinwari from one of the enquiries that found 47 civilians - most of them women and children - were killed in strikes in Nangarhar on July 6.