The Times
Jerome Starkey in Kabul

Britain’s top general in Afghanistan backed calls for more troops, insisting it would be impossible to deny al-Qaeda their terrorist safe havens by “simply patrolling from the skies”. In an exclusive interview with The Times, Lieutenant-General Jim Dutton, said yesterday that he supported a formal request made by his boss, General Stanley McChrystal, the US commander, for up to 40,000 more troops.

On Friday McChrystal submitted a formal request to Nato and the Pentagon for a surge in troops to help tame a growing insurgency.

General Dutton, the deputy commander of Nato’s International Security Assistance Force,insisted that “long-term stability” in Afghanistan was the only way o stop international terrorists using the country as a launch pad for attacks in Europe and the US.

His comments came as continuing violence across the country yesterday claimed the lives of six Nato troops, including a British casualty. (Read more)