British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Monday evening that London planned to host an international conference to set a timetable for transferring security responsibilities to Afghan forces from next year.
During his annual Guildhall foreign policy speech at the Lord Mayor's banquet, Brown said he offered London as a venue for the summit on
Afghanistan in the New Year.
"I want that conference to chart a comprehensive political framework within which the military strategy can be accomplished," he said. "It should
identify a process for transferring district by district to full Afghan control and if at all possible we should set a timetable for transfer
starting next year, in 2010."
Brown said the mission in Afghanistan is vital to British security, "and our security services report to me that there is now an opportunity to
inflict significant and long-lasting damage to al-Qaida." He said "we must not allow this process to be reversed by retreat or irresolution."
"We are in Afghanistan because we judge that if the Taliban regained power, al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups would once more have an environment in which they could operate."
About 234 British soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001. Many critics have criticized the lack of equipment for troops, and several
military commanders have resigned, questioning the mission's overall strategy.