MPs to vote on strategy for Afghan withdrawal

The British Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, will this week face calls to set out a detailed timetable for the withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan in the first major House of Commons vote since the war began almost nine years ago.

New powers handed to backbenchers will allow MPs to debate the continued deployment of British forces, with many of the record new intake expected to express unease at the timescale for troops coming home.

In a sign of the shifting focus in the war-torn country, the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, yesterday announced that he had formed a council to pursue peace talks with the Taleban.

Many in Westminster now accept the only hope of a settlement is through negotiating with insurgents, not by pursuing ongoing military action.

Prime Minister David Cameron has said he expects the Afghan forces to take control of security by 2014 with a deadline for the withdrawal of British combat troops set for the following year.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg last week staged a surprise visit to Camp Bastion, and claimed the campaign was "turning the corner" - though he said he had "no idea exactly how and when we will succeed".

However, a new YouGov poll shows that 30 per cent of the public think British troops should be brought home "immediately" while a further 42 per cent said "soon". Just 7 per cent thought the UK was "winning the war with the Taleban".

Paul Flynn, a Labour MP and long-standing opponent of the conflict, said: "At the moment Parliament is not doing its job. The majority of the public would like to see the troops home before Christmas, and Parliament is not reflecting that.

The Government and all the main politicians are in denial on this. Nick Clegg said we have turned a corner in Afghanistan. We have turned so many corners we have been around the block many times - and we are still in hell."

The coalition is mindful of the decision of the Netherlands and Canada to withdraw after a shift in public mood at home.

While the Ministry of Defence understands the political reasons to set out a plan to withdraw by 2015 at the latest, senior figures are "unhappy" at the amount of detail given. "I don't think we can discount the possibility of an exit earlier than 2015," one minister said.

To date, 332 British military personnel have died in Afghanistan since 2001.

In 2001, 13 Labour rebels made clear their protest against the conflict in a vote on a technicality in the House of Commons. However, Friday's debate is being seen as the first time MPs have been able to vote on a substantive motion, which reads: "That this House supports the continued deployment of UK armed forces in Afghanistan."

Peter Bone, a Tory MP and member of the Backbench Business Committee, whose son has served in the RAF in Afghanistan, said: "We want the Commons, for the first time, to say whether it wants to continue in Afghanistan or not. On Iraq we had a proper vote and debate on it."

Moderate MPs on both sides of the House will suggest it is time to draw up a detailed timetable for withdrawal.

Tim Farron, a Liberal Democrat MP and co-chair of the party's foreign policy group, said: "I want them out sooner rather than later, but also we need to look at how we achieve our security in Afghanistan.

"The crucial thing now is accepting that some of the people running at least part of Afghanistan might be a bit ugly, but I would rather that, and have some impact on their behaviour, than to throw our hands up in the air and walk away. It is crucial that there is no sense of lives being lost in vain. There will be no perfect solution."

Julian Lewis, a Conservative MP and Tory defence spokesman before the election, said he would use the debate to urge the MoD to change its strategy in Afghanistan "without undue cost in life, limb and treasure". British forces were now "spread too thinly", he commented.

Britain would do better to retreat to a "strategic bridge area", run down the level of force in Afghanistan and prepare for withdrawal - but with the possibility of returning to the frontline if the Afghan forces lost control, he said.

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