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Brown talks with Afghan village elders at the Shawaz operating base, which until three weeks ago was a Taliban stronghold
Gordon Brown met some of the 4,000 British troops who took part in last month's Operation Moshtarak
The Prime Minister also met Afghan police trainees
The heavily-criticised Snatch Land Rover is to be replaced with 200 new patrol vehicles in Afghanistan to protect troops from booby-traps, it was revealed as Gordon Brown paid a surprise visit to the war-torn country.
News of a £118 million investment in new vehicles and equipment for came after former commanders accused the Prime Minister of deliberately misleading the Iraq inquiry over equipment shortages.
The Prime Minister flew to Afghanistan immediately after giving evidence at the Chilcot Inquiry yesterday, where he was challenged over the failings of the Snatch Land Rover in Iraq.
He denied claims that he starved the military of funds as Chancellor and instead blamed the military for failing properly to equip the Armed Forces for war.
Officials travelling with Brown during his swift tour of Helmand Province, said that Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth will announce within weeks a £100 million investment in the new British-built vehicles, which should arrive in Afghanistan by late 2011.
They will replace the lightly-defended Land Rovers, which have been blamed for the deaths of troops in roadside bomb blasts during the conflict.
The new vehicles are smaller and lighter than the Mastiff and Ridgeback armoured personnel carriers which are already taking over some of the tasks of the more vulnerable Snatch.
A further £18 million will provide equipment and training for Afghan forces to deal with the improvised explosive devices (IEDs) used by the Taliban against British and allied forces and 150 new instructors from the UK police and Army will be deployed to train Afghan police.
As part of his visit Brown met and thanked some of the 4,000 British forces who took part in last month’s assault on insurgent strongholds in the opening phase of Operation Moshtarak, which he said had “brought results which are better than anticipated”.
He visited the Shawaz operating base, which until three weeks ago was a Taliban stronghold, and met Afghan elders who are distributing tomato, onion and watermelon seeds to farmers to convince them to give up cultivating opium poppies.
He also toured a police training centre which is part of an effort to increase the Afghan domestic force to 134,000 officers by next year.
Brown said training Afghan forces was the "right approach" and would mean "our troops can come home.”
“My visit is an opportunity to say thank you to the thousands of British, Afghan and international troops involved and to the dozens of civilian experts working on stabilisation," he said.
“Their bravery, sacrifice and professionalism are an example of how the international community can and should intervene to make us all safer.
“The Afghan Army is already rapidly expanding. Around 7,000 Afghan troops are being trained each month. But we also need a strong Afghan police force to create enduring security. That is a key challenge for the next phase.”
Standing in front of a plaque commemorating the Britons who have died in Afghanistan, Brown told troops: "We will do everything we can to support you with the equipment necessary and the resources you need.”
But Brown has been criticised, following his appearance at the Iraq inquiry, for his role in equipping the armed forces, while Chancellor, when war broke out.
Brown said that every request for money for the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and occupation of Iraq was swiftly approved by the Treasury. He shifted the blame on to generals when confronted with complaints from the relatives of soldiers killed in attacks on Snatch Land Rovers.
Admiral Lord Boyce, the Chief of the Defence Staff up to the start of the invasion in 2003, said: “He’s dissembling, he’s being disingenuous. It’s just not the case that the Ministry of Defence was given everything it needed.
“There may have been a 1.5 per cent increase in the defence budget but the MoD was starved of funds.”
Year on year when Brown was Chancellor it failed to get the money it needed to meet the level of activity demanded by the Government, he said.
Colonel Stuart Tootal, former commander of 3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, said: “I am quite staggered by the lack of any sense of responsibility. He was the man with the purse strings.”
The Prime Minister repeatedly expressed sorrow for the British and Iraqi deaths. He told the inquiry: “I think this is the gravest decision to go to war. It was the right decision and it was for the right reasons.”
A No10 spokesman said: "The Prime Minister could not have been clearer in responses to repeated questions about military funding. Every request that the military commanders made to us for equipment was answered. No request was ever turned down."
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