Hague: 'No Ifs, No Buts" On 2015 Afghan Exit

Foreign Secretary William Hague has insisted that British troops will not still be fighting in Afghanistan by 2015.

Mr Hague, who is on a surprise visit to Kabul, says military chiefs are aware of the "unequivocal" deadline.

His visit coincided with Barack Obama announcing 10,000 US troops will leave the region by the end of the year .

Another 23,000 American soldiers deployed in a military surge two years ago will also be removed by the end of next summer.

Some 450 British troops are due to leave Afghanistan this summer and levels are due to be reassessed again next month.

It is hoped David Cameron could then announce a second wave of withdrawals for later in the year.

The Government has said levels will be kept under constant review and slashed earlier if "conditions on the ground" allow.

Mr Hague said on Thursday: "We have said that by 2015 British forces will not be engaged in combat in Afghanistan or in anything like the numbers that they are now.

"What happens between now and 2015 depends on conditions on the ground and our continuing assessment of those," he said.

"One of the conditions is that by 2015 we reach that point ... I can tell you there are no ifs, no buts about that."

Mr Hague is on a three-day visit to Afghanistan, where he said the UK's involvement would continue for "many years" after the withdrawal of combat troops.

The Foreign Secretary also confirmed that talks were under way with elements of the Taliban and that Britain was "active" in that process.

Mr Cameron spoke to Mr Obama by phone on Wednesday night after the US President made his announcement.

The Prime Minister credited the surge by US troops and other coalition forces for reversing the "momentum" and improving security.

He said: "We will keep UK force levels in Afghanistan under constant review. I have already said there will be no UK troops in combat roles in Afghanistan by 2015 and, where conditions on the ground allow, it is right that we bring troops home sooner."

Chief of the defence staff General Sir David Richards stressed military efforts had to continue until the Afghan forces were able to take charge themselves.

"The Afghan army and police are increasingly able to plan, direct and execute operations to provide security for their own people," he said.

"But our collective military efforts need to continue until Afghan security forces are able to assume responsibility for security across Afghanistan by the end of 2014."

Shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander said the military drawdown had to be "matched by a diplomatic and political build-up".

Christine Bonner, whose son Darren was killed in Afghanistan in 2007, said she was "overwhelmed" by Mr Obama's announcement.

"I've got some very dear friends who are waiting to go out to Afghanistan now and the thought that they wouldn't have to go perhaps would be great," she said.

"And the other thought was did my son die in vain? Have we finished the job that we started?

"We've lost over 300 soldiers in this country and are those families feeling exactly the same as I am? Has the job been finished? Will it go back to as it was before if we leave? I don't know."

Tory MP James Arbuthnot, the chairman of the Commons defence select committee, warned that the US leader was taking a "gamble".

He said: "David Cameron is right in saying that the surge has had a beneficial effect. The risk is whether it is being reduced too soon.

"I am concerned that the advice of the military concern on the ground needs to be given real weight.

"There is a risk that if this surge, and the benefits it has produced, proves to be reversible and fragile, then we might begin to allow the Taliban or Al Qaeda to regroup."

Former Chief of the Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshall Lord Stirrup, expressed concern that the handover was driven by politics and not security on the ground.

He said troop withdrawal should happen when it "looks like a propitious moment to do it and we should go ahead - not because there are elections forthcoming in our own countries".