MP's Afghanistan challenge to Prime Minister
December 15, 2009 12:00 AM
Colchester MP Bob Russell has once more challenged Prime Minister Gordon Brown in the House of Commons over the failure of Britain's major NATO European allies to provide troops in southern Afghanistan.
His latest challenge came after the Prime Minister gave a statement on Afghanistan - and came just two weeks after Mr Russell's last challenge when Mr Brown had given an earlier Parliamentary statement about Afghanistan. Mr Russell has also made similar criticisms in previous exchanges in the House of Commons with the Prime Minister.
In his latest Commons question on Afghanistan, Liberal Democrat Mr Russell told the Commons: "I was in Camp Bastion in September last year, just after 2,000 British troops, including many from 16 Air Assault Brigade, delivered a turbine to the Kajaki dam, which was a daring and dangerous mission.
"Fifteen months later, that turbine has yet to be installed because the other equipment needed cannot be taken there because of the dangers."
Mr Russell added: "Bearing in mind the Prime Minister's promise that he was going to get more European nations involved, and with the additional aerial surveillance, will he get them to secure that road so that the battle of hearts and minds can be won?"
Responding, Mr Brown said: "Two generators are there, but the third has not been brought into use. The decision has been made that diesel-powered, local generation is a better way forward to meet the gap in electricity power that exists in that area."
Afterwards Mr Russell said: "If that is the case, why did 2,000 British soldiers - many of them from Colchester - risk their lives last year to take this huge electricity transformer and other heavy equipment through hostile Taliban territory for it to now be mothballed? This appears to suggest a lack of joined-up thinking."
In his previous challenge to the Prime Minister, Liberal Democrat Mr Russell observed that "the vast majority of our major European NATO allies have not contributed troops on the ground in southern Afghanistan" before urging Mr Brown: "Can we have the deployment of more unmanned aerial vehicles - UAVs - to help detect terrorist activities?"
Two weeks' later, the Prime Minister has now told the Commons: "Aerial surveillance helps us track and target Taliban improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and that surveillance has now been increased by over 20 per cent."
Mr Russell said that he welcomed this announcement, but felt that a much larger increase was needed. "I have seen how effective UAVs are, and believe that greater use would make things considerably safer for our troops on the ground."
Mr Russell visited soldiers in Helmand Province on two occasions last year.
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