Cameron calls for openness on Afghanistan

David Cameron has called for a "frank and candid assessment" of the UK's role in Afghanistan.

In the week that the 100th British serviceman died in the country since the 2001 overthrow of the Taliban, the Conservative leader pressed Gordon Brown to be more open about the rate of progress in rebuilding the state.

Speaking at prime minister's questions in the Commons on Wednesday, Cameron was careful to stress his support for the operation.

But he called on Brown to tell MPs "not just of where we are doing well but where much more needs to be done".

The prime minister replied that "we are making progress" in training the army, training the police and reconstructing the Afghan economy and society.

Afghanistan had also become a democracy "and it was shown to be so by the elections", he added.

However he also accepted that "this is a long haul".

"Our duty is to stop the Taliban ever taking control again," he added.

Cameron replied that there is a "risk that while we are winning militarily" the international community was losing on its wider objectives of securing the region and preventing the rise of extremism.

The issue is now Britain's "number one foreign policy priority" and "number one national security priority" he claimed.

"One of the lessons from Iraq is that it is only by being candid and frank that we can take the British people with us," he argued.

He called for regular Commons statements on the issue from ministers. The prime minister insisted that defence secretary Des Brown would be updating MPs on his recent visit to the country soon.