Afghanistan: John Reid sells 'the benefits'

telegraph: Afghanistan benefits underrated, claims Reid

The positive benefits of deploying 3,300 British troops to Southern Afghanistan will "far outweigh the dangers", John Reid has said.

The Defence Secretary defended the deployment to the Taliban stronghold of the Helmand province after a senior officer claimed the move would provide "plenty more targets for insurgents".

Lt Col Henry Worsley, a senior officer in the advance party, said: "You talk about stirring up a hornets' nest and that probably will happen. We're going to move in many more forces here than they've had before. You'll have plenty more targets in the province."

But Mr Reid said: "The good that we will do there will far outweigh the dangers.

"We are going in to help civilian aid, economic development and President Karzai to reconstruct Afghanistan.

... He said there had been "less than 10" soldiers' lives lost in Afghanistan since 2001, adding: "It is getting riskier. As we go through the phases to the south we will then find that there is a greater propensity for terrorists to attack as they retreat into the last bastions." Read more