British troops’ safety in Afghanistan priority

The government has insisted that the safety of UK troops in Afghanistan is its “priority”. Two soldiers, were shot dead by a rogue Afghan soldier on Saturday, who turned on them after faking injury. Defence Secretary Philip Hammond told MPs the pain caused by such attacks was “more raw”, as it undermined efforts to work with Afghan forces, reported BBC. He added that Nato would not change its strategy to be “derailed”. The statement came in response to an urgent parliamentary question by Labour MP Denis MacShane. Hammond told MPs: “The security of our troops on the front line in Afghanistan, or for that matter anywhere in the world, remains our priority… “In recent days we have again been reminded of the difficult and challenging environment in which our armed forces operate.” He added: “We cannot and will not allow the strategy to be derailed… The pain felt is all the more raw when the incident undermines the trust that our armed forces have built in Afghanistan.” Hammond said that an investigation was under way into the deaths of the two soldiers.