KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- More than 1,000 British troops will stay at an airfield in Kandahar, Afghanistan, despite the transfer to U.S. forces, the British Ministry of Defense said.
British forces handed over command of an airfield in Kandahar this week. British Cmdr. Gordon Moulds, the top British military official in charge of operations there, said the base and its Afghan soldiers have experienced exponential growth since British troops arrived in 2006.
"The Afghan air force has developed immensely," he said in a statement. "When I first got here, the mentors were doing most of the flying."
He said more than 1,000 of his troops would stay behind, however, to continue operations from the airfield.
British forces are centered in Helmand province acting in part in a training capacity for fledgling Afghan forces.
The British government in October laid out a defense policy that called for cuts in spending but maintained the Afghan war as a "vital" security issue.
The British transfer comes as NATO leaders head to Lisbon, Portugal, Friday for what authorities said would mark a dramatic new phase for the commitment to Afghanistan.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said allies at the Lisbon conference would look forward to a time when the Afghan government can lead security in the country.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he would like his forces to take over responsibility of security operations by 2014.
