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UK decision on Afghan troops after Obama plan

Britain wants to see what plans US President-elect Barack Obama has in Afghanistan before deciding whether to send extra troops there, Foreign Secretary David Miliband said in an interview published on Friday.

  • Agencies
  • Published: 23:23 November 28, 2008
  • Gulf News

London: Britain wants to see what plans US President-elect Barack Obama has in Afghanistan before deciding whether to send extra troops there, Foreign Secretary David Miliband said in an interview published on Friday.

"We're waiting to see what the Obama strategy is," Miliband told the Daily Telegraph newspaper.

"If there are requests for help - economic, social or military - we'll look at them hard. We've never been in blanket refusal. But the British people don't want to feel it's always us who gets the nod: they want to know that others will do it."

Pledge

Obama has pledged to send more troops to Afghanistan, where the United States has more than 30,000 soldiers to support the Afghan government in its fight against the Islamist Taliban.

Obama, who takes office in January, is expected to put pressure on European members of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) to do more.

Britain has around 8,500 troops serving with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.

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