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Afghan force ill-prepared and undermanned

March 21, 2007 3:06 PM

Responding to Des Browne's announcement that the Government had underestimated the strength of the Taliban, and that more helicopters and troops are need in Afghanistan, Liberal Democrat Shadow Defence Secretary, Nick Harvey MP said:

"This underlines what we have said for years. More helicopters are essential for this mission, but have been in alarmingly short supply.

"This amounts to a major U-turn, especially as only three weeks ago the minister was certain that there were enough helicopters to do the job.

"The new tactics are an overdue response to the situation on the ground. Our armed forces were ill-prepared and under-manned for the nature of the mission.

"Operating in two theatres at once has had a detrimental impact on our armed forces. They are critically overstretched."

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