Afghanistan/UK

UK-led Afghan operation over, local ceasefire in the north

Article published on the 2009-07-27 Latest update 2009-07-27 14:21 TU

A British soldier in Helmand province, 26 July 2009
(Photo: Reuters)

As Britain announced the end of an offensive against Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan Monday, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband gave a speech at Nato headquarters, saying the Afghan government must do more to drive a wedge between insurgents. Meanwhile, in the north, Afghan elders struck a local ceasefire deal with the Taliban.

"The first phase of Operation Panther's Claw has now ended," a spokesperson for the British Ministry of Defence told the AFP news agency. "There are three phases. The first was the most heavily military phase. The second is a holding phase about holding the ground, and the third is a building phase."

About 20 British soldiers died in Afghanistan this month as part of the operation in Helmand province, which Prime Minister Gordon Brown said was a success.

"There has been a tragic human cost. But this has not been in vain,” he told the London Evening Standard newspaper. Brown has come under public pressure recently over rising troop deaths in Afghanistan.

"What we've done is push back the Taliban - and what we've done also is to start to break that chain of terror that links the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan to the streets of Britain.”

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the next Afghan government will have to participate more in the fight against the Taliban, and that Nato allies have to do more combat work.

"The biggest shift must now be towards the Afghan state taking more responsibility," Miliband said in a speech Monday at Nato headquarters in Brussels.

"Burden-sharing is a founding principle of the alliance. It needs to be honoured in practice as well as in theory.”

Afghanistan holds presidential and provincial elections on 20 August, and in the build-up, US and Nato troops have launched major operations against the Taliban near the border with Pakistan

On Monday in Afghanistan’s Badghis province, elders agreed to a ceasefire with local Taliban insurgents, according to President Hamid Karzai’s office, in order to smooth the way for the elections.

"Since Saturday a ceasefire has been established in Bala Murghab district of Badghis province through the efforts and mediation of elders and influential people of the province," said a spokesperson for the President.

The Taliban has reportedly withdrawn from the area, leaving local leaders in charge, free to set up election offices and to allow candidates to campaign.

There was no immediate comment from the Taliban.

RFI’s correspondent, Sardar Ahmed in Kabul, said this local ceasefire might help local authorities organise elections, but it is not significant for the country as a whole.

“I would say it is not a big deal,” he told RFI. “It is only in a remote and small area of the country. It is not country-wide.”

There is no way to know if the ceasefire will hold.

“I don’t think the government side would break it, they need for the elections at least,” said Ahmed. “But the Taliban is very unpredictable.”