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British will hunt down Taliban, says Reid(The Daily Telegraph, Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)JOHN REID, the Defence Secretary, conceded yesterday that British troops in Afghanistan may launch offensive missions that involve hunting down and killing Taliban insurgents. The statement came after months of uncertainty following the announcement that 3,300 troops would be sent to Helmand province in southern Afghanistan. The Government had insisted that Nato troops would not move beyond peace-keeping duties and helping reconstruction efforts, despite American pressure for them to take on a combat role. But Mr Reid was accused of not giving the full facts. During a visit to Afghanistan yesterday, he told Radio 4: "Although our mission is primarily reconstruction, it is complex and dangerous because the terrorists will want to destroy the economy and the legitimate trade and the government that we are helping to build up. "Of course, our mission is not counter-terrorism but one of the tasks... will be to defend our own troops and the people we are here to defend and to pre-empt, on occasion, terrorist attacks on us. If this didn't involve the necessity to use force we wouldn't send soldiers.'' Last week, reports quoting military documents suggested British troops will be asked to find and track insurgents in southern Afghanistan, disrupt opposition sanctuaries and eventually defeat them. Senior officers were quoted as saying: "Kingpin drugs lords who control vast criminal empires will also be tracked down and destroyed.'' Mr Reid also stepped into the row over whether Prince Harry could be barred from serving in a war zone, saying he should be "treated like any other member of the British Armed Forces''. |