PM defends war, as opinion polls show crumbling public support

Gordon Brown has pledged that Britain "will not walk away" from Afghanistan, while warning the Kabul government that it must stand up to corruption to continue receiving international help.

Making a pre-Remembrance Day speech at the Royal College of Defence Studies in London, Brown said that the war was "prosecuted out of necessity" to protect the UK and the rest of the world from terrorism.

He acknowledged that the fraudulent elections and widespread corruption in the country had caused some doubts about the Afghan mission. Calling for a cleaner government, he said: "Cronies and warlords should have no place in the future of a democratic Afghanistan."

Brown said that he has spoken with Hamid Karzai several times this week and has agreed goals. In a stern warning, he added: "I am not prepared to put the lives of British men and women in harm's way for a government that does not stand up against corruption."

The speech follows the deaths of six soldiers this week. Five were shot dead on Tuesday by an Afghan policeman being trained by UK forces.

A poll by Channel 4 news yesterday showed that public opposition has risen sharply over the last two weeks, with 35 per cent of the public voting for immediate withdrawal of British troops. This is up from 25 per cent a fortnight ago.

Brown acknowledged people's doubts about when success will be achieved, saying: "My answer is: we will have succeeded when our troops are coming home because the Afghans are providing security themselves, continuing the essential work of denying the territory of Afghanistan as a base for terrorists."

In a direct rebuttal to the argument of Kim Howells, a former foreign office minister who argued this week that money spent in Afghanistan would be better diverted to heightening security and intelligence in the UK, Brown said: "Investment alone cannot insulate us from the terrorist plots we all face."

He argued that three quarters of terrorist plots originated in the lawless border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

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