UK troops to remain in Afghanistan 'for five years'

Britain will be "militarily engaged" in Afghanistan for a further five years, the head of the Army has said. General Sir David Richards told the Daily Telegraph, while on a visit to Helmand, that he expected the military conflict to "trail off in 2011". But British troops will continue in training and support roles, he said. He also warned that coalition troops could not afford to fail and said UK forces now "for the first time" had the resources they had wanted. Sir David said in August that he believed the UK would be committed to Afghanistan "in some manner" for the next 30 or 40 years, possibly through roles in development, governance and security sector reform. Sir David said: "The combat role will start to decline in 2011, but we will remain military engaged in training and support roles for another five years, and we will remain in a support role for many years to come."