KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- British Defense Secretary Bob Ainsworth says the argument that al-Qaida has moved to Pakistani safe havens does not justify troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.
"Some argue that al-Qaida are now located in the borderlands of Pakistan, so there is no point staying in Afghanistan," the British official wrote in Wednesday's issue of The Times of London.
"But if we were to abandon Afghanistan, who believes they would not take root there again? Who thinks this would make Britain safer? We would just have to do it all over again."
Suggesting even far off places like Britain cannot be safe from such terrorists, Ainsworth rejected any notion of a "fortress Britain."
"If we abandon Afghanistan now, as it has been before, it would only be a matter of time before we felt the consequences," he warned.
The article appeared a day after Britain lost its 100th soldier this year in Afghanistan, the deadliest in any single year since the war began in 2001.
The Times report said the soldier, who was with the 1st Battalion of the Royal Anglian Regiment on his second tour in Afghanistan, died in a small arms fire in central Helmand province.
Ainsworth, who is in Afghanistan to meet with the troops, said more lives may be lost in the fight against the Taliban but that Afghans must be trained so they are strong enough to deny their territory to the terrorists.
