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ISLAMABAD - British Prime Minister Tony Blair flew to Afghanistan yesterday, where Britain's 5000 troops are taking higher casualties than in Iraq on the frontline of a rising insurgency by a revitalised Taleban.
British officials would not give details of the long-planned trip because of security fears. Fighting in Afghanistan this year is the worst since the Taleban was ousted five years ago. Some British military officials say their soldiers are six times more likely to die in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province than in Iraq.
Diplomatic and official sources in Afghanistan said Blair was to visit British troops at their main base in Helmand, a Taleban hotspot and the main opium growing area of the world's largest supplier. He was then to meet President Hamid Karzai in Kabul before flying back to Pakistan.
Blair is visiting President General Pervez Musharraf to discuss how to beat the Taleban, pool counter-terrorist intelligence and quell militancy in Pakistani religious schools.
Senior Afghan officials criticise Britain and the United States for not putting more pressure on Pakistan to stop the Taleban sheltering and training in its borderlands. Pakistan says it is doing all it can to stop the militants, as it does in the face of similar Indian criticism over Kashmiri separatists operating from Pakistani territory.
Afghan intelligence officials say they have clear evidence of the Pakistani Government continuing to support the Taleban, but have been ignored.
- REUTERS
