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I believe this is an unwinnable war
Labour MP David Winnick
British forces are to be pulled out of the Sangin province of Afghanistan, Liam Fox has announced.
In a statement to the House of Commons this afternoon, the defence secretary said the move was part of a restructuring of NATO forces in the country.
British marines will be replaced by American soldiers and operational command of the area will also be handed to the United States.
"The result will be a coherent and equitable division of the main populated areas of Helmand between three brigade-sized forces, with the US in the north and the south, and the UK-led Task Force Helmand, alongside our outstanding Danish and Estonian allies, in the central population belt," he said.
An extra 300 British troops from 2nd Battalion the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment are also to be deployed temporarily to Afghanistan at the request of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Helmand province.
Fox said the extra soldiers would help provide "additional flexibility" over the summer months.
And in a seperate statement the chief of the defence staff, Sir Jock Stirrup said the deployment would allow ISAF to build on the "significant progress" already made in central Helmand and to "drive home improvements in security, governance and infrastructure".
"These forces are also an essential precursor for the next stage of the reorganisation of ISAF forces in Helmand in which we will hand responsibility for Sangin to our American counterparts," he said.
"This reorganisation makes very sound military sense and ensures that UK troops are deployed in the most effective way alongside ISAF and Afghan forces.
"Our Service personnel can rightly be enormously proud of the work they have done in Sangin and the significant progress that they have achieved there.
"Sangin is a challenging area of Afghanistan and we leave it a better place. The experience our troops have gained there will be vital in the work they will continue in the important population centres of central Helmand."
Sangin has been a particularly dangerous area for British forces, with more than 100 of the 312 service personnel to have died in Afghanistan since 2001 losing their lives in the province.
Paying tribute to those that had lost their lives there Fox told the Commons: "In Sangin, UK forces have made huge progress in the face of great adversity.
"The district centre has been transformed. Helmand as a whole is a safer place as a result of our endeavours and sacrifices there."
Shadow defence secretary Bob Ainsworth welcomed the rebalancing of forces, which he said was only possible since the American's increased their presence on the ground.
But he asked Fox to "clear up the confusion" about whether the government had a deadline for withdrawal from Afghanistan.
"He knows there is some concern about whether there are deadlines or whether there are not deadlines," he said.
And the former defence secretary asked whether the reorganisation of forces had now come to an end.
He said: "Are we now at a position in the British area of operations where we have the same ratio of forces to population as the Americans will have on their side of the line?"
Fox said there was now a much "better match" of forces to population, but did not rule out further changes.
He added: "I can only repeat what the prime minister has said , there will not be British troops in a combat role or significant numbers in five years' time, but we can expect them to still be there in a training role".
While there has been a great deal of consensus on the Afghan mission in the Commons, there have been some dissenting voices.
Labour's David Winnick asked: "How many more British soldiers will die or be seriously injured before the talks begin with the enemy".
He added: "I believe this is an unwinnable war".
But on the five year anniversary of the London bombings Tory MP Patrick Mercer said the government needed to explain to the public the importance of the conflict British troops were engaged in.
"Would the secretary of state come to the dispatch box and explain we are involved in a regional war that stretches right the way from Iran to Russia, and this is as much about Pakistan's stability as Afghanistan's stability.
"The lives and are blood of our servicemen and women are being shed in crucial cause," he concluded.
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