#2 Gulf Times: More troops likely for AfghanistanPublished: Monday, 31 October, 2005,
LONDON: Defence Secretary John Reid yesterday said he was prepared to send further troops to Afghanistan, a day after a British soldier was killed in the country. The international coalition is seeking to beef up its presence in southern Afghanistan and Britain would be ready to play a role, Reid said. International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops mainly act as peacekeepers in Afghanistan since the 2001 US-led campaign ousted the Taliban regime. Britain has about 1,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and newspaper reports had suggested that a further 3,000 troops could be deployed. Reid said no decision had yet been taken.
âWe will be prepared if others are, and if we can get the resources and the right back up,â he told BBC television.
âNo reports at the moment can in any way be accurate because I have not made a final decision.â
He said that military means were not the only way of assisting Afghanistan, adding that aid and trade were also crucial. â AFP
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British soldier in northern Aghanistan is a Pakistani who had arrived in the country just days earlier, police said Sunday. Gunmen opened fire on a vehicle carrying British soldiers serving with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in the main northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif on Saturday, killing one and wounding five. An Afghan interpreter was also wounded in the attack on an unmarked ISAF vehicle near the cityâs famous Blue Mosque. Three of the men detained after the attack were Afghans but a fourth said he was a Pakistani national who had only entered Afghanistan a few days before the ambush, Mazar-i-Sharif police spokesman Shirgan Dorani told AFP. The man had said he had trained at a religious school, or madrassa, in Pakistan, Dorani said.