Our troops could be in Afghanistan until 2019: Astonishing revelation from a senior military source as Cameron pays a surprise visit to British forces

Senior official says soldiers will be needed for extra three to five years

Prime Minister visited frontline troops to mark British Armed Forces Day

He has announced plans for a permanent Afghan war memorial in the UK



UK plans to end combat operations in the country in December 2014

Taliban prisoners to be released into the Afghan military under peace deal

Cameron later flew on to Islamabad for talks with the Pakistani President



British soldiers will be in Afghanistan until the end of the decade – five years later than expected, a senior military source said last night.

Troops had been widely expected to withdraw at the conclusion of combat operations next year.

But as David Cameron paid a surprise visit to the country yesterday, the source warned that it would take ‘a further three to five years’ after 2014 to help the Afghans regain control of their country.

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Prime Minister David Cameron made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan today to frontline troops in Helmand province as a senior military official admitted that British soldiers will need to stay in the country beyond the end of 2014 Cameron was greeted at Camp Bastion in the southern Helmand province on a visit to mark Armed Forces day Mr Cameron, acutely conscious that the war is no longer supported by voters, later tried to play down the claim, insisting that British involvement would be restricted to non-combat roles after next year.

A total of 444 British service personnel have lost their lives in the 12-year conflict. Thousands more have been injured. During his visit, the Prime Minister enjoyed breakfast with UK troops in Helmand, where he was shown bomb-detecting and pilotless drone technologies before flying to Kabul to hold talks with President Hamid Karzai. RELATED ARTICLES Previous

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Next Assad-busters: At a secret base in Jordan, U.S Special... Britain has paid 'a high price' after 12 years of war... Share this article Share The admission that Britain could still have a troop presence in the country at the end of the decade comes amid increasingly intense diplomatic efforts to seek peace with the Taliban.

Mr Cameron was shown a remote-controlled surveillance aircraft during his Camp Bastion visit today

Cameron was shown a map of the area by Major Jim Skelton during his Armed Forces day visit to Camp Bastion

One diplomatic figure said yesterday that a substantial number of militants being held in British Army camps in Helmand – many directly linked to terror attacks on troops – were likely to be released as part of the process.

It has already been announced that 170 British troops will remain after December 2014 to run the Afghan officer academy at Qargha, known as ‘Sandhurst in the sand’.

But commanders now say that Nato’s mission will also have to assist the Afghans on matters such as medical evacuation, logistics and air support operations.

The UK has 7,900 troops in Afghanistan. This will fall to 5,200 by the end of 2013, while the number of bases will fall from 11 to four or five by the end of the year.

Soldiers showed Mr Cameron a remote-controlled IED detection unit used in regional operations during his visit to the base

British forces could still be in the war zone in December 2019 as they are needed to help with medical evacuation, logistics, planning helicopter operations and in integrating ground combat with close air support (file photo)

T he military source said: ‘We will leave our combat role next year, but we will still be needed for three to five years after that.’

Responding to the claim at a press conference, the Prime Minister said: ‘There will be no British combat troops at the end of 2014. British troops are coming home.’

Senior figures involved in paving the way for negotiations with the Taliban are concerned about the backlash from relatives of their victims.



One source said: ‘I cannot foresee a political settlement being reached which does not involve the release of prisoners. This will often involve putting a uniform on them and turning them into government soldiers.



Today, a senior diplomat revealed that troops will have to work alongside their Taliban prisoners who will be released as part of peace negotiations and 'put in uniform' in the Afghan military (file photo)

‘We hope the families will appreciate that sacrifices need to be made for peace.’

Yesterday, Mr Cameron announced £3.8 million of funding for military charities, including £300,000 for an Afghan war memorial at the Armed Forces Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.



The money will come from banks fined over the Libor rate-rigging scandal.

This week the Government will publish plans to abolish the 100-year-old Territorial Army – made up of 19,000 part-time soldiers – and replace it with a 30,000-strong Army Reserve.

Critics have described the move as ‘getting an army on the cheap’ because Defence Secretary Philip Hammond is cutting the number of regular soldiers by 20,000 to 82,000.