More than two-thirds of Britons want their country's troops to withdraw from Afghanistan within a year, an ICM poll published by the BBC Thursday has found, according to dpa. Of 1,013 people polled, 68 per cent said troops should come home within 12 months. The proportion of women advocating a withdrawal was 75 per cent, while 59 per cent of the men asked wanted the troops to return. Britain currently has 8,000 troops in southern Afghanistan, and is likely to come under pressure to stock-up the contingent when the new US adminstration takes over in January. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, while not at present having committed himself to an increase in deployment, has said that Britain's involvement in Afghanistan is vital to stop "terrorism coming to Britain." On Tuesday, Britain's new defence secretary, John Hutton, said British forces in Afghanistan were crucial to British security and the conflict "must be seen through." While there has been little public protest in Britain over the deployment in Afghanistan, widespread disaffection with military involvement abroad became clear over Iraq. A total of 122 British soldiers have died in Afghanistan, as the death in an explosion of two further NATO soldiers was reported Thursday. Their identity is not yet known.
