Brown dismisses criticism on Afghanistan

LONDON – Prime Minister Gordon Brown dismissed remarks by one of his ministers yesterday that Britain does not have enough helicopters in Afghanistan, as he sought to move past a damaging row over resources.

Brown said the remarks to a newspaper by outgoing junior Foreign Office minister Lord Mark Malloch-Brown had been misrepresented and repeated his insistence that British troops had everything they need.’I am satisfied that Operation Panther’s Claw has the resources it needs to be successful,’ he said, referring to a major assault on Taliban insurgents in the southern Afghan province of Helmand which British troops began in June.’I think the fact that it is making progress at the moment and yielding results already shows that that is the case… For the operation we are doing at the moment we have the helicopters we need.’Brown has been forced to defend Britain’s strategy in Afghanistan following a surge in troops deaths there, in a row that has piled the pressure on a government already struggling with the recession and an expenses scandal.Malloch-Brown’s intervention is an embarrassing addition to calls from military figures including army chief General Richard Dannatt. – Nampa-AFP