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| Aide quits over Afghan strategy | |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| A ministerial aide to the defence secretary has resigned, criticising the government's strategy in Afghanistan. | A ministerial aide to the defence secretary has resigned, criticising the government's strategy in Afghanistan. |
| Labour MP Eric Joyce said the UK could no longer justify the growing casualty toll in Afghanistan by saying the war would prevent terrorism back home. | Labour MP Eric Joyce said the UK could no longer justify the growing casualty toll in Afghanistan by saying the war would prevent terrorism back home. |
| Mr Joyce, parliamentary private secretary to Bob Ainsworth, also said the government was failing to empathise sufficiently with the military. | |
| Ministers have faced claims that forces are under-equipped but deny this. | Ministers have faced claims that forces are under-equipped but deny this. |
| 'Uncertainty' | |
| The resignation comes on the day the Ministry of Defence announced the death of another soldier in Afghanistan, taking the number of service personnel killed in Afghanistan since operations began in 2001 to 212. | |
| In his resignation letter, Mr Joyce cast doubt on public support for the UK's mission in Afghanistan and the government's justification for the presence of troops there. | |
| I do not think the public will accept for much longer that our losses can be justified by simply referring to the risk of greater terrorism on our streets Eric Joyce | |
| "I do not think the public will accept for much longer that our losses can be justified by simply referring to the risk of greater terrorism on our streets," he said. | |
| "Nor do I think we can continue with the present level of uncertainty about the future of our deployment in Afghanistan." | |
| Mr Joyce, a former soldier, said the UK must put together an exit strategy for its troops and that personnel numbers should be cut substantially in next Parliament. | |
| He also criticised the contribution of other Nato countries in Afghanistan, adding: "For many, Britain fights, Germany pays, France calculates, Italy avoids." | |
| The BBC's political correspondent Gary O'Donoghue said the resignation - the first from the government over Afghanistan - would be a real blow to Gordon Brown. |