Brown under fire over Afghanistan policies

London: Three former defence chiefs have accused Gordon Brown of failing in his commitment to the war in Afghanistan and support for British troops.

Field Marshal Lord Inge said the armed forces never really believed Brown was "on their side" while General Lord Guthrie accused the prime minister of "dithering" over his promise to send 500 extra troops to the country.

Admiral Lord Boyce said the government "did not realise we are at war".

The scathing criticism came after Brown pledged that Britain would not "walk away" from Afghanistan and would "succeed" in its mission.

Lord Guthrie said: "I do think that military services, the people in the frontline, are questioning whether the government is really, really committed to making progress in Afghanistan."

The peer, who was chief of the defence staff between 1997 and 2001, said there was a "clear need for more helicopters" for UK troops, adding that had they been available soldiers' lives would have been saved.

Guthrie criticised Brown's decision to send 500 more troops conditional on them being properly equipped, on other Nato states taking more of the military burden, and on the Kabul government providing more Afghan army recruits.

Reputation

The current chief of defence staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, has warned that the reputation of Britain's armed forces is under threat unless progress is made in Afghanistan.

Lord Boyce, the chief of the defence staff between 2001 and 2003, said the United Kingdom was in the middle of a "defence train crash".

"It is too much to hope that the present government will provide the necessary cash to allow its aspirations to be realised properly or honourably," he said.

He said frequent changes at the top of the Ministry of Defence had been unhelpful.

The criticism of the government's Afghanistan policy came at the end of a lethal week for British troops, with seven killed, including five soldiers shot by one of the Afghan policemen they were mentoring.