But Look to a Decade in AfghanistanEvening Standard | December 11, 2007
Britain's Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, staged a lightning trip to Afghanistan Dec. 10 as British troops helped secure a major victory against the Taliban.
The offensive, codenamed Operation Snakebite, came as Brown unveiled a shift in British policy in Afghanistan, with a bigger combat role for Afghan forces, better political deals on the ground and a new economic drive to wean farmers off the opium poppy trade.
Senior British defence sources revealed that troops would be expected to stay in the country for up to a decade.
"This is still a young campaign," one said.
Brown flew into Camp Bastion in Helmand province at the climax of one of the biggest battles involving British ground troops for years.
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