VZCZCXRO6096
RR RUEHDBU RUEHPW RUEHSL
DE RUEHLO #1628/01 1941706
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 131706Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY LONDON
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2864
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 LONDON 001628 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL MARR MOPS MASS UK AF
SUBJECT: HMG DEFENDS AFGHANISTAN MISSION AS BRITAIN'S DEATH 
TOLL THERE SURPASSES IRAQ TOTAL 
 
¶1. (SBU)  Summary.  In the past week, Prime Minister Brown, 
Foreign Secretary David Miliband, and Defense Secretary Bob 
Ainsworth have unequivocally and publicly reaffirmed 
Britain's commitment to its mission in Afghanistan. "This is 
a very hard summer, it's not over, but it's vital that the 
international community sees through its commitment.," Brown 
declared July 10, stressing that Britain's "clear" purpose is 
to "prevent terrorism from coming to the streets of Britain." 
 This message has coincided with extensive media coverage of 
Britain's role in Afghanistan and the fact that the number of 
British fatalities in Afghanistan, which now stands at 184, 
has exceeded Britain's military death toll in Iraq of 179, 
with 15 British fatalities in Afghanistan over a recent ten 
day period.  Conservative critics have fiercely criticized 
the government's handling of the Afghanistan mission. 
Liberal Democrat party leader Nick Clegg recently went 
against cross party consensus and urged the government to 
rethink its mission in Afghanistan, asserting that young 
lives were being "thrown away."   However, according to poll 
results released July 13, 46 percent of those polled support 
Britain's mission in Afghanistan -- an increase of 15 percent 
since a similar poll in 2006, at a time when the public 
apparently closely associated Afghanistan with the unpopular 
war in Iraq. Criticism of HMG's handling of Afghanistan from 
staunch supporters of Britain's mission there appears to be 
forcing the Brown government to define in greater detail its 
Afghanistan strategy.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (U)  British media coverage over the last several days 
has focused heavily on British troops, mounting death toll 
in Afghanistan; 15 British troops died in Afghanistan from 
July 1 to July 10 and British fatalities now stand at 184 
troops, surpassing the 179 British troops killed in Iraq. 
Against this somber backdrop, PM Brown has unequivocally 
defended Britain's role in Afghanistan, asserting July 11 
that &it's vital that the international community sees 
through its commitment8 and affirming that Britain's 
"resolution to complete the work that we have started in 
Afghanistan and Pakistan is undiminished...I continue to 
believe our strategy is the right one.8  Brown stressed that 
&it has been a very difficult summer and it's not over8 but 
that Britain's &clear8 purpose is to &prevent terrorism 
from coming to the streets of Britain.8 
 
¶3.  (U)  Foreign Secretary Miliband responded forcefully in a 
July 13 television interview to critics of Britain's 
Afghanistan policy, stating that Britain's mission in 
Afghanistan has a &very clear strategy8 and is designed to 
"make us safer here."  Miliband's rebuffed Conservative Party 
leader David Cameron's comment that it was a "scandal" that 
the British army did not have enough helicopters to transport 
troops around Afghanistan, asserting &we're not going to be 
able to do our mission in Afghanistan through tanks and 
helicopters alone.  The great danger that our troops face is 
on the ground.8  Miliband also defended Britain's 
Afghanistan role in a July 11 interview, in which he stressed 
that &Afghanistan cannot become an incubator for 
international terrorism and a launching pad for attacks on 
us.  That applies in Afghanistan and it applies in Pakistan 
and that mission is very, very clear.8 
 
Defense Secretary Defines Goals and Strategy 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (U)  In a July 8 speech at Chatham House, Royal Institute 
of International Affairs, Defense Secretary Bob Ainsworth 
defended British strategy in Afghanistan, in what was his 
first major policy speech since becoming Defense Secretary 
June 5.  (Note:  The full text of his speech is available at 
the Ministry of Defense website: http://www.mod.uk  End 
Note.)  He  outlined Britain's current priorities in 
Afghanistan and insisted upon the "compelling" reasons for 
engagement in Afghanistan, disavowing a "purely military 
solution."  He called for "courage" and "patience" and 
stressed that "there is no defined end date -- only an end 
state."   Ainsworth stated that the next few months are 
critical for British forces, noting that the Afghan 
presidential elections in August must be "credible and 
inclusive." 
 
¶5.  (U)  Ainsworth said the primary purpose of Britain's 
operations in Afghanistan is to protect Britain from 
terrorism, which "goes to the heart of this country's 
national security and to the core of our national interests." 
 He affirmed that  "the entire region in which Afghanistan 
sits is of vital strategic importance to the United Kingdom." 
 He underlined the importance of supporting the Afghan 
National Government until it can tackle on its own the threat 
posed by the Taliban, "because for Britain to be secure, 
Afghanistan needs to be secure."   Ainsworth described 
success as "an environment in which the Afghan government is 
 
LONDON 00001628  002 OF 003 
 
 
capable of providing for its people the security required to 
govern their country themselves, suppress violent extremism 
and ensure the terrorists do not return."   Ainsworth 
underscored the importance of "encouraging reintegration and 
reconciliation so that insurgents renounce violence in favor 
of legitimate Afghan-led political processes."  He outlined 
the aims of British strategy as focusing upon preventing the 
Taliban from returning to control, preparing for elections, 
helping to build civil society, and working to prepare the 
Afghans to assume responsibility for their own security. 
 
Liberal Leader Questions Mission 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (U)  Liberal Democrat party leader Nick Clegg  went 
against cross  party consensus and urged the government to 
rethink its mission in Afghanistan, writing in the "Daily 
Telegraph" July 9 that young lives were being "thrown away." 
Clegg questioned whether the government has the "will, 
strategy, or tactics to do the job properly."  He added that 
political disorder is causing the unnecessary deaths of young 
men and women. Clegg also said that poor equipment was 
responsible for the deaths of British soldiers, saying the 
lack of sufficient equipment was "appalling."  According to 
Clegg, the surge of American troops will further marginalize 
the British effort in the same way that it did in Iraq, when 
British troops were pushed to the background.  Clegg called 
the dependence on American military support "demoralizing." 
Though Clegg did not assert that British troops should be 
withdrawn at the present time, he insisted the government 
must put "political will behind a new strategy" and renew 
commitments to Afghanistan.  Clegg's criticism of the 
government's Afghanistan strategy echoes comments by 
Conservative critics such as Shadow Defense Secretary Liam 
Fox, who asserted July 10 that HMG lacked "clear strategy" 
and benchmarks for success 
 
Steady Public Support 
--------------------- 
 
 
¶7.  (U)  An ICM poll published in the July 13 "Guardian" 
daily newspaper shows British support for the war is greater 
than three years ago and opposition is slightly lower. 
According to the poll, 47 percent oppose the war and 46 
percent support it.  However, support for the war has risen 
by 15 percentage points since the last ICM poll on this 
topic, in 2006, when only 31 percent supported the war.  The 
2009 poll shows that 42 percent of respondents want British 
troops to immediately withdraw from Afghanistan and a further 
14 percent want them home by the end of the year, almost 
identical to the 2006 polling results.  Significant 
percentages of those polled understand the reasons for 
Britain's commitment in Afghanistan, with 80 percent stating 
that the war is part of the international fight against 
Al-Qaida, 78 percent stating that British troops are in 
Afghanistan to help its government against the Taliban, and 
58 percent stating that Britain is there to fight the 
narcotics trade ) all figures that are higher than in the 
2006 ICM poll.  A March 2009 INR poll found 52 percent of 
Britons "support military participation in the ISAF NATO 
mission."  Polling consistently shows majority support for 
bringing troops home as soon as possible and majority 
opposition to providing any additional troops. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  HMG leadership has not pulled any punches in its 
message to the British public: Britain and its allies have a 
long hard slog in Afghanistan, but the mission is necessary 
to protect the British homeland from terrorist attacks.  As 
recent polling shows, most Britons seem to understand that 
message -- even if many are not convinced that British troops 
should remain in Afghanistan for the long haul.  HMG's 
biggest challenge may be to convince its critics that it is 
prosecuting the war competently and minimizing the risks to 
British troops.  Prominent critics of Britain's Afghanistan 
strategy include a former CHOD who has accused the Treasury 
of being unsympathetic to the war and has called for more 
troops -- a call for reinforcements echoed by the outgoing 
Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Richard Dannatt. 
Critiques such as these -- from staunch supporters of 
Britain's mission in Afghanistan -- appear to be forcing the 
Brown government to define and defend its Afghanistan 
strategy in more detail, as criticism mounts.  End Comment. 
 
 
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