International forces will provide advice to Afghan military until 2020

Senior military sources say Nato will continue to play major role as Afghan forces are unprepared for 2014 withdrawal

International forces will provide logistical advice to the Afghan military up until 2020 after concluding that Afghanistan’s national security forces will be unprepared for full operations when Nato combat troops withdraw from the country at the end of 2014.

As David Cameron paid a visit to British troops in Helmand province on Armed Forces Day, senior military sources indicated that Nato would need to play a major role in Afghanistan until the end of the decade.

The prime minister said British forces were reaching the final phase of the 12-year campaign. But senior British military sources said the Afghan forces would need advice on providing close air support, the distribution of food and fuel and on medevac facilities.

British military commanders have been able to make their assessments after Nato handed control of security for the whole of the country to Afghan forces earlier this month. The commanders have concluded that a great deal has been achieved but that Afghan forces will not have built their capacity to full operational levels by the time Nato combat troops leave at the end of 2014.

The military advice contrasts with the approach of the prime minister who aims to have a minimal British footprint in Afghanistan by 2015. Britain is to provide financial help and is to run an officer training academy near Kabul dubbed “Sandhurst in the sand”.

The prime minister arrived in Afghanistan on Saturday after Lieutenant Nick Carter, the deputy commander of Nato operations in Afghanistan, told the Guardian that opportunities to build a dialogue with the Taliban were missed in the past decade. The US recently announced that it would hold talks with the Taliban, who have been allowed to open a political office in the Qatari capital Doha.

Cameron indicated that he had some sympathy for Carter’s view. He told Sky News in Lashkar Gah: “I think you can argue about whether the settlement we put in place after 2001 could have been better arranged. Of course you can make that argument. Since I became prime minister in 2010 I have been pushing all the time for a political process and that political process is now under way.

“But at the same time I know that you cannot bank on that which is why we have built up the Afghan army, built up the Afghan police, supported the Afghan government so after our troops have left, and they will be leaving under the programme we have set out, this country shouldn’t be a haven for terrorists.”

The prime minister said it was right to talk to the Taliban as he dubbed the Nato operation a success after it denied al-Qaida a base in Afghanistan. He said: “We want a political solution as well as making sure we have a security solution. What we have done in Afghanistan is we came here to stop it being used as a base for terrorist activities. That …read more