Britain and Australia Step Up To The Plate With New Troops For Afghanistan

Finally! The British and the Australians have both stepped up to the plate regarding adding more troops to the fight in Afghanistan and help bolster NATO efforts against the Taliban. Now, it's not exactly the kind of numbers that the U.S. has committed but with Britain pledging 750 more troops and Australia kicking in 400 more, it's not a bad start. Note to readers: there was no comment or pledge from either Germany or France. Here's the story on the British commitment from Quqnoos and here is the piece, again from Quqnoos, on the Australian deployment. And some excerpts:

British Prime Minister said extra 700 troops will be sent to Afghanistan mainly to help provide security during upcoming elections
Deployment of the new British contingent will rise the troops to 9,000 stationed in Afghanstian, mostly in Helmand, the stornghold of the Taliban militants.
"For Afghanistan, our strategy is to ensure the country is strong enough as a democracy to withstand and overcome the terrorist threat," Brown said.
The British leader revealed the enlargement of troops after a snap visit to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In his visit to the Afghan capital, Kabul, he said Britain will almost double up the number of forces in Afghanistan.

And on the Aussie contribution:

A press release from the Australian Defense Ministry said the troops is a reinforcement effort to the 1,100 military personnel battling Taliban in the restive southern Uruzgan province.
It’s a part of the commitment to the government of Afghanistan and the international community, the press release said.
With the new contribution, Australian troops will reach to 1550 to Afghanistan, one of the several largest nations contributing forces to NATO mission.
“This increase represents an effectiveness and sustainable contribution in Afghanistan to coalition efforts while allowing us to expand on our current operations,” The pres release adds.

Now, both announcements refer to ensuring the safety and security of upcoming elections but I think that is somewhat a smokescreen to appease the moonbat communities back in both countries - I highly doubt that Britain or Australia will send these troops into Afghanistan and once the elections are over, pull them back home.

I personally think that with these reinforcements along with the American commitments of close to 20,000 more troops, some significant gains can be made against the Taliban and if that does happen, we just might see more troops being pledged by these two countries and we might even get France and Germany to get off their asses. You see, I'm not buying this "lost cause" bullshit so many experts are throwing out about the War in Afghanistan - I, personally, believe the Taliban can be nearly eliminated from Afghanistan with enough of a commitment, and based on their behavior over the past decade or so, that simply has to be the goal.

Britain Deploys 700 Additional Troops to Afghanistan

British Prime Minister said extra 700 troops will be sent to Afghanistan mainly to help provide security during upcoming elections
Deployment of the new British contingent will rise the troops to 9,000 stationed in Afghanstian, mostly in Helmand, the stornghold of the Taliban militants.
"For Afghanistan, our strategy is to ensure the country is strong enough as a democracy to withstand and overcome the terrorist threat," Brown said.
The British leader revealed the enlargement of troops after a snap visit to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In his visit to the Afghan capital, Kabul, he said Britain will almost double up the number of forces in Afghanistan.
"The greatest international priority is the border areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan," Brown told Parliament.
Many countries including the US have vowed to send more troops to Afghanistan to safeguard the crucial Afghan presidential polls in August.
"They are the crucible of global terrorism.They are the breeding ground for international terrorists. They are the source of a chain of terror, which links the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan to the streets of Britain."
Brown in his visit to Islamabad said Britain donates $15m to Pakistan to help this country to defeat the growing Taliban-led insurgency in the tribal areas of Pakistan.