(KUNA) -- The UK is to send 130 extra troops to Afghanistan to help protect Kandahar airfield, Britains Defence Secretary Des Browne announced Thursday. Browne told the House of Commons that 34 Squadron of the Royal Air Force Regiment will leave the UK for the deployment "within the next weeks", describing the airfield as being of "central importance to the success of the wider NATO mission in Afghanistan." The airfield and its environs are already guarded by Afghan, Canadian, Romanian and US forces."Kandahar airfield plays an essential role in the British and Allied military commitment to the rebuilding of Afghanistan, a role that is likely to increase as the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force expands into the south of the country," he told MPs. The UK has used Kandahar as a base for its Harrier GR7 jets since September 2004 and much of the deployed helicopter fleet is now based there. "It is only right that the UK shares some of the burden in protecting this joint facility," Browne added.
| 'It is only right that the UK shares some of the burden ...' Those are the kinds of words you just know a Brit is going to say in the end ... |