British Prime Minister David Cameron Thursday made his first official visit to Afghanistan, hailing 2010 as vital in efforts to fight the Taliban but ruling out the prospect of sending any extra troops. Cameron, whose visit was not announced ahead of time for security reasons, held talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the heavily guarded palace in Kabul before the two leaders held a joint news conference. The new British premier declared Afghanistan “the most important foreign policy issue, the most important national security issue for my country”. Britain has around 9,500 troops in Afghanistan, mostly in the south, as part of a 46-nation force. It is the second-biggest contributor to the NATO-led mission after the United States. But Cameron told the news conference: “the issue of more troops is not remotely on the UK agenda”. It is his first visit to Afghanistan since taking power as head of a coalition government involving his centre-right Conservatives and the centre-left Liberal Democrats last month. – AP General: Kandahar operation to take longer BRUSSELS – The campaign to secure the crucial Kandahar region of Afghanistan where the Taliban insurgency was born will take longer than planned because local people do not yet welcome the military-run operation, the top US and NATO war commander said Thursday. “I do think it will happen more slowly than we had originally anticipated,” Gen. Stanley McChrystal said. A military and civilian campaign to neuter the Taliban began in the Kandahar region this spring, and had been expected to ramp up in June, and largely conclude by August. It will now probably stretch far into the fall. “It will take a number of months for this to play out, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing,” McChrystal told reporters on the sidelines of a NATO meeting taking stock of the nearly nine-year war. “I think it's more important that we get it right than we get it fast,” McChrystal said.
