Defence aide quits over Afghanistan

The parliamentary aide to Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth has resigned over Afghanistan, it was confirmed yesterday night.

In a letter to Gordon Brown, Eric Joyce called on the Prime Minister to make it clear to the British people that the Afghanistan campaign was "time limited".

He said the public would not accept for "much longer that our losses can be justified by simply referring to the risk of greater terrorism on our streets".

Mr Joyce, who was parl-iamentary private secretary to Mr Ainsworth, was critical of Government policy in Afghanistan and called for a reduction in the British commitment.

He said Labour would not win the next General Election until it got a "grip" on defence and demanded an exit strategy from Afghanistan during the next Parliament.

He revealed that he had told his boss a number of weeks ago that he intended to resign and now was the "least disruptive" time to go.

The former army major said: "I do not think the British people will support the physical risk to our servicemen and women unless they can be given confidence that Afghanistan's government has been properly elected and has a clear intent to deal with the corruption there which has continued unabated in recent years."

He added: "We also need to make it clear that our commitment in Afghanistan is high but time-limited. It should be possible now to say that we will move off our present war footing and reduce our forces there substantially during our next term in government."

Mr Joyce said Britain had to be more direct "about the reality that we do punch a long way above our weight, that many of our allies do far too little, and that leaving the field to the United States would mean the end of Nato as a meaningful proposition."

He called for a "greater geopolitical return" from the US for Britain's efforts, adding: "For many, Britain fights; Germany pays, France calculates, Italy avoids."

Although Mr Joyce is only a parliamentary aide, his resignation will cause political embarrassment for the Prime Minister, who is due to make a keynote speech on the country tomorrow.

Mr Brown has faced increasing criticism over Britain's role in the country as the death toll mounts. The number of British troops killed in Afghanistan since the start of operations in 2001 is now 212, including 41 in July and August this year alone.

Mr Ainsworth said: "Eric Joyce is, of course, entitled to his opinion and while we thank him for his service as a junior parliamentary aide, it is vital that we have a leadership team that is fully committed to our mission in Afghanistan.

"The picture he paints is not one that I nor many people within the MoD recognise, whether military or civilian.

"Everyone in defence, and the wider government, is fully committed to ensuring that our forces succeed in the operations on which they are engaged in Afghanistan, and that they have the necessary equipment and support to do the job.

"Our mission in Afghanistan is vital to our national security. We will not walk away from that responsibility."

Shadow defence secretary Dr Liam Fox said: "This will be a blow for Gordon Brown, it is coming just the night before he makes a major speech on Afghanistan.

"Eric Joyce is one of the few Labour MPs with military experience... and I think the fact that he has felt it necessary to come out with such strong reservations about the Government's handling of defence and of Afghanistan is significant.

"It is rather foolish tonight to try to rubbish him in the way they have been doing."

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said: "Eric Joyce confirms what I have been saying for a long time, our approach in Afghanistan is over-ambitious and under resourced.

"We cannot continue to put British servicemen and servicewomen in harm's way in pursuit of a strategy which is increasingly unrealistic while failing to give our troops the pay, the equipment and the support they urgently need."